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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Milorad Dusic, Mark Dutton, Horst Glaeser, Joachim Herb, Javier Hortal, Rafael Mendizábal, Fernando Pelayo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 188 | Number 1 | October 2014 | Pages 63-77
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-16
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In 2009 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published “Deterministic Safety Analysis for Nuclear Power Plants Specific Safety Guide,” Specific Safety Guide No. SSG-2 (hereinafter referred to as SSG-2). SSG-2 addresses four options for the application of deterministic safety analyses. Option 1, which has been used since the early days of civil nuclear power and is still used today, uses conservative codes/models and conservative initial and boundary (I&B) conditions. Option 2, which is frequently used worldwide, uses realistic codes/models but with conservative I&B conditions. Option 3 uses realistic codes/models and realistic I&B conditions and therefore needs also to consider the associated uncertainties. Today, option 3 is known as the Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty option. Option 4 is not developed in SSG-2 and only indicates that option 4 is an attempt to combine insights from probabilistic safety analyses with a deterministic approach, which results in a risk-informed safety analysis. In options 1, 2, and 3, the availability of safety systems is based on conservative assumptions, whereas in option 4, the availability of safety systems is derived by probabilistic means. This paper explains in more detail the approach proposed for option 4 and provides illustrative examples for its application, recognizing the fact that option 4 is still a research option and will remain so for some time.