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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
July 2024
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Latest News
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
Shawkat S. Khairullah, Carl R. Elks
Nuclear Technology | Volume 202 | Number 2 | May-June 2018 | Pages 141-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1450014
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
One of the essential concepts being postulated for next generation nuclear power plants (NPPs) that could include Gen IV reactors—small modular reactors—is the notion of resilient and survivable instrumentation and control (I&C) systems. Resilience at the system and plant level will rely on highly robust and fault-tolerant digital embedded devices as a foundation. This paper presents a new self-healing programmable digital I&C architecture, BioSymPLe, inspired from the way nature responds, defends, and heals: the stem cells in the immune system of living organisms and the pathway from DNA to protein. The BioSymPLe is organized in a four-layered approach: (1) cellular layer that includes four sublayers, with each sublayer allocating two functional B cells which represent the building block that executes the local functionality of NPP critical application based on the expression for DNA genetic codes stored inside each cell; (2) tissue layer that embeds eight redundant T cells and eight routing units to facilitate coordination and organized behavior among a network of four cellular sublayers; (3) internal healing layer that monitors the correct execution of functions at the cellular level and activates healing mechanism at the tissue level; and (4) external healing layer using a concept of embryonic stem cells by differentiating this type of cell to repair the faulty T cells. Finally, the BioSymPLe is capable of tolerating a significant number of faults (transient, permanent, or hardware common cause failures) that can stem from environmental disturbances, and we believe it can positively impact the operation of next generation digital I&C systems in NPPs.