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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.
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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.
Fan Zhang, J. Wesley Hines, Jamie B. Coble
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 7 | July 2020 | Pages 939-950
Technical Paper – Special section on the 2019 ANS Student Conference | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1666599
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Most nuclear power plants (NPPs) under construction or under design are expected to deploy largely digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems. Current fleets are increasingly looking toward converting to digital I&C systems due to the advantages of precise control, economic operation, and ease of procurement over conventional analog I&C systems. With all the benefits digital I&C systems bring, challenging cybersecurity concerns are introduced as well. Cyberattacks targeted at industrial control systems have grown in both frequency and capability in recent years. Despite efforts to air-gap digital I&C systems, NPPs can be vulnerable to these cyberattacks, as evidenced by recent cyber incidents at nuclear facilities. Cybersecurity of NPPs should be addressed in three complementary thrusts: cyberattack prevention, detection, and response. Considering the requirements of digital I&C systems, we propose a novel cybersecurity solution platform that consists of a data collection and extraction system, a multilayer cyberattack detection system, a cause analysis system with dynamic risk assessment, a cyberattack response system, and a main control room display system. This architecture also promotes cooperation between information technology experts and the operation technology team to improve cybersecurity by integrating process data together with traditional host system and network data in a unified platform. This paper presents the proposed cybersecurity architecture and demonstrates its efficacy with a simulated cyberattack on a cyber-physical system testbed. Together with traditional intrusion prevention methods and rule-based intrusion detection systems, this platform provides a solution for prevention, detection, and response to cyberattacks that is congruous with the defense-in-depth strategies of other NPP safety and security systems.