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
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
James A. Smith, Vivek Agarwal (INL)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1311-1318
Two challenges to increase the efficiency in nuclear energy production are the ability to enhance the fundamental understanding of reactor operation and developing improved approaches for diagnostic and prognostic techniques. Traditionally, radiation-hardened sensors and their associated signal-conditioning electronics are used to study key process parameters inside the nuclear reactor core. However, traditional approaches have limitations such as the requirement of at least two wires to provide power, communicating information from inside to outside the nuclear reactor vessel, and the degradation of the performance of sensors along with their instrumentation/electronics over time. These limitations can have an adverse effect on measurement accuracy and model predictions. Conventional process sensors generally monitor quasi-static variations and tend to filter dynamic events that may be critical to diagnosing issues. A new approach to process monitoring is being developed to address some of the shortcomings of traditional process monitoring techniques in nuclear reactors. This paper describes a methodology that uses intrinsic reactor processes, an Acoustic Measurement Infrastructure and a novel data processing method to determine abnormal reactor operation. The resulting data from the Advanced Test Reactor is used to identify reactor state changes which will enable diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. The use of intrinsic reactor processes and the acoustic transmission of signals for process monitoring address the limitations of traditional process sensing.