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Division Spotlight
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.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
Diego Mandelli, Andrea Alfonsi, Congjian Wang, Zhegang Ma, Carlo Parisi, Tunc Aldemir, Curtis Smith, Robert Youngblood
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 3 | March 2021 | Pages 363-375
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1776030
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new generation of dynamic methods has started receiving attention for nuclear reactor probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). These methods, which are commonly referred to as dynamic PRA (DPRA) methodologies, directly employ system simulators to evaluate the impact of timing and sequencing of events (e.g., failure of components) on accident progression. Compared to classical PRA (CPRA) methods, which are based on static Boolean logic structures such as fault trees and event trees (ETs), DPRA methods can provide valuable insights from an accident management perspective. However, as of today this class of methods has received limited attention in practical applications. One factor is DPRA research and development has progressed mostly as an alternative to state-of-practice CPRA methods (i.e., disconnected from currently employed PRA methods). This disconnect is addressed in this paper by presenting several algorithms that can be employed to bridge the gap between CPRA and DPRA. First, algorithms designed to identify differences between CPRA and DPRA results are presented. The identification process compares the CPRA ET sequence or the minimal cut sets (MCSs) obtained by CPRA with the set of transients simulated by the DPRA. If inconsistencies are observed, solutions are provided to incorporate these differences back into the CPRA by employing DPRA to inform existing CPRA. We performed this incorporation either probabilistically (e.g., by updating MCS probability) or topologically (by adding new branching conditions or sequences in the ET).