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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.
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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
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.
R. A. Pierce, L. C. Olson, H. M Ajo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 7 | July 2022 | Pages 1149-1164
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.2004871
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Savannah River National Laboratory has evaluated several options for the disposition of stainless steel (SS)–clad plutonium metal alloy. One of the technologies under consideration is alloying of the material with SS. The resulting SS-Pu alloy would be a nonproliferable waste form consisting of a secondary Pu composition region microencapsulated in the refractory SS. Two 8-kg ingots were made at SS-1.8Zr-0.4Pu alloys (in weight percent); 8 kg was determined in a previous study to be the maximum mass of SS ingot at the maximum target Pu loading of 350 g that would result in a SS-4.4Pu alloy (in weight percent). Two smaller 500-g ingots were also produced at SS-1.6Zr-1.4Pu and SS-1.4Pu (in weight percent). The alloying of 500-g ingots at a higher Pu concentration than in the 8-kg ingots was evaluated, and the necessity of adding Zr metal to incorporate the Pu and control Pu oxidation was evaluated. Zirconium addition was found to be unnecessary to incorporate the Pu and control Pu oxidation. Drill turnings were collected from the large and small ingots, and metallographic samples were directly cut from the small ingots. Both were analyzed to validate the structure and composition region formation. Chemical analyses of turnings proved that the Pu was dispersed within the SS ingots.