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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
July 2025
Latest News
DOE on track to deliver high-burnup SNF to Idaho by 2027
The Department of Energy said it anticipated delivering a research cask of high-burnup spent nuclear fuel from Dominion Energy’s North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia to Idaho National Laboratory by fall 2027. The planned shipment is part of the High Burnup Dry Storage Research Project being conducted by the DOE with the Electric Power Research Institute.
As preparations continue, the DOE said it is working closely with federal agencies as well as tribal and state governments along potential transportation routes to ensure safety, transparency, and readiness every step of the way.
Watch the DOE’s latest video outlining the project here.
Nick DeJulia, Trevor Jones (AMS)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1251-1259
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is equipped with a magnetically coupled positioning system known as a control rod drive mechanism (CRDM). In many cases, the plant system that measures the position of the control rods in the reactor core is the digital rod position indication (DRPI) system. The DRPI system is designed to continuously sense and display the positions of each of the control and shutdown rods. Both of these systems consist of coils above the reactor head, connectors at the reactor head and at the containment penetration, instrumentation and power cabinets, and long runs of interconnecting cables in between these system components. The objective of cable testing is to evaluate the condition of the rod control and position indication coils, connections, cables and to identify any defects or anomalies that may adversely affect their normal operation. Various electrical measurements can provide insight into the health and reliability of these rod control and rod position cable circuits. Some measurements are used to identify configuration anomalies, others test the integrity of connectors and proper isolation from station ground, and some validate the health of the coil to identify resistive connections, insulation degradation, or turn-to-turn shorts. This systematic approach to rod control and rod position coil and cable testing increases system reliability, reduces the likelihood of unplanned outages from dropped rods, and reduces outage times and maintenance costs which in turn reduces costs for the electrical utility.