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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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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Latest News
NRC approves subsequent license renewal for Oconee
All three units at the Duke Energy’s Oconee nuclear power plant in South Carolina are now licensed to operate for an additional 20 years.
Hsoung-Wei Chou, Pin-Chiun Huang, Yuh-Ming Ferng
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 5 | May 2021 | Pages 735-749
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1796091
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The structural integrity of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is a crucial issue for an operating nuclear power plant, especially in the beltline region, which suffers the highest neutron irradiation. Owing to its capability of considering parameters based on statistical distributions and provision of objective risk-informed results, the probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) method is widely used in evaluating the structural integrity of RPVs. However, the flaw characteristics used for PFM analysis are mainly derived from particular vessel inspection information such as from the Pressure Vessel Research User Facility and Shoreham vessels, which may not be able to truly represent the vessel-specific condition of an analyzed RPV. In this work, the Bayesian inference, which combines prior flaw data with new inspection results as well as uncertainties, is used to develop posterior vessel-specific flaw distributions. Then, the updated flaw model is used for PFM analysis to investigate the effects on the fracture probability assessment of RPVs subjected to pressurized thermal shocks (PTSs). Considering the updated flaws based on the inspection data, the PFM analysis result could be more realistic to predict the fracture risks of RPVs during operation.