ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
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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Mar 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
Peter Yarsky, Kevin Coyne, Cynthia Taylor, Chad Oelstrom
Nuclear Technology | Volume 211 | Number 2 | February 2025 | Pages 358-376
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2326375
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Risk plus Some Attributes (R + SA) is a method that risk informs the prioritization of inspection activities related to new fuel cycle facility construction. The method uses information available in the Integrated Safety Analysis (ISA) summary to compute the risk-informed importance score of each item relied on for safety (IROFS) referenced in the ISA summary. The approach is based on approximating the risk for each accident sequence and then apportioning that risk to IROFSs associated with that sequence. Once the IROFS risk-informed importance score is computed, the importance score can be adjusted to account for other factors besides the risk. These other factors capture attributes of the IROFSs that affect the prioritization they should receive for inspection. An example of an attribute is the complexity of the IROFSs; complex as opposed to simple IROFSs warrant a higher inspection priority. This paper provides a description of the theoretical and mathematical framework of the R + SA methodology.