ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Andhika F. Wibisono (Univ of Cambridge), Jeong Ik Lee (KAIST), Eugene Shwageraus (Univ of Cambridge)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 1056-1065
Nuclear power plants (NPPs) are known to be used as providers of base-load power. As the share of the intermittent renewables in the energy mix increases, the maneuvering (load-following) of NPPs is becoming more important. Previous studies have found that combining Light Water Reactors (LWRs) with external superheater would improve their cycle thermal efficiencies and maneuvering capabilities. Implementation of this concept in a small modular boiling water reactor (SMBWR) might offer additional benefits, such as vessel size reduction and further boost of cycle thermal efficiency at higher operating pressure. This paper presents a preliminary design of hybrid SMBWR, focusing on the effect of system pressure on reactor capability to operate with natural recirculation of coolant and on steam cycle thermodynamic performance. It is demonstrated that hybrid SMBWR has natural circulation system operating at higher pressure than the conventional system by increasing its chimney height. The study of the effect of system pressure on power cycle thermodynamic performance was done by considering both fossil fuel heat and renewable heat as the potential heat source for the external superheater. The cycle thermal efficiency of hybrid SMBWR with fossil heat option varies between 40 to 42% depending on the system operating pressure while the values for renewable heat option are between 38 to 40%.
