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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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Latest News
El Salvador: Looking to nuclear
In 2022, El Salvador’s leadership decided to expand its modest, mostly hydro- and geothermal-based electricity system, which is supported by expensive imported natural gas and diesel generation. They chose to use advanced nuclear reactors, preferably fueled by thorium-based fuels, to power their civilian efforts. The choice of thorium was made to inform the world that the reactor program was for civilian purposes only, and so they chose a fuel that was plentiful, easy to source and work with, and not a proliferation risk.
Sherrell R. Greene
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 3 | March 2019 | Pages 397-414
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1505357
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper, the fourth in a series, presents the results of a study conducted to explore the role current U.S. commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) play and the role a new type of NPP—a resilient nuclear power plant (rNPP)—could play in enhancing U.S. electric Grid, Critical Infrastructure, and societal resilience. A rNPP is a NPP intentionally designed, sited, interfaced, and operated in a manner to enhance Grid resilience. Four specific rNPP applications are discussed: (1) rNPPs as “flexible operations” electricity generation assets, (2) rNPPs as anchors of nuclear hybrid energy systems, (3) rNPPs as Grid Black Start Resources, and (4) rNPPs as anchors of Resilient Critical Infrastructure Islands. These four applications, individually and collectively, could enhance U.S. Grid, Critical Infrastructure, and societal resilience during normal conditions and in the wake of major national calamities stemming from natural hazards and/or malevolent human actions. rNPPs would be both tactical and strategic resilience assets, thereby extending the value proposition of nuclear energy well beyond that associated with nuclear power’s traditional baseload electricity generation. These are important topics as society grows increasingly dependent on electricity, and the natural hazard and malevolent human threat portfolio to the Grid continues to evolve.