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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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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.
Ara Go, Daesik Yook, Kyuhwan Jeong, GyeongMi Kim, GunHee Jung, Ser Gi Hong
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 4 | April 2019 | Pages 605-623
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1500795
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Basic Plan for High-Level Radioactive Waste Management (national WM plan) was established and promulgated, taking into consideration national and international trends on policy and technology development. In order to evaluate the safety for a facility in accordance with the national WM plan, it is essential to evaluate the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) source term. The objective of this study was to analyze Korea SNF characteristics; to propose reference SNF; and to evaluate generation amounts, radioactivity, thermal power, and isotopic composition of SNF in compliance with the national WM plan in order to provide basic information for safety research in Korea. The Automatic Multi-batch ORIGEN Runner for Evaluation of Spent fuel program (AMORES) was developed and used to evaluate inventory, radioactivity, and thermal power. Generation amounts, radioactivity, thermal power, and isotopic composition of SNF for milestones in the national WM plan were evaluated using a pressurized water reactor SNF database (DB) through 2015, and future SNF generation was estimated by taking into consideration the distribution of initial enrichment and burnup for each power plant unit. As a result, radioactivity, thermal power, and isotopic composition at each site in 2015, 2052, and 2082 differed significantly depending on the presence of new nuclear power plants. In addition, a reference SNF was proposed through statistical analysis of the SNF DB in order to utilize it for safety analysis based on various scenarios when actual SNF data cannot be available. In order to perform a more realistic safety assessment, radionuclide inventories using reference SNF and time-integrated SNF nuclide inventories using actual data were compared, and then, the best-fit reference SNF for each site and year was suggested.