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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
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.”
Luis Betancourt, Dinesh Taneja (NRC)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1454-1462
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) instrumentation and controls (I&C) regulatory infrastructure, established and supplemented over the decades, has addressed many safety concerns and issues as they arise, using the best information and techniques available at the time. As a result, the licensing process for new highly integrated I&C systems and digital upgrades of existing I&C systems has become prescriptive, cumbersome, and thereby resource/time-intensive. In creating a more efficient licensing process for small modular reactors (SMRs), the NRC staff implemented an enhanced safety-focused review approach for the NuScale Power LLC, (NuScale) SMR design. This approach has been successful in the efficient and effective review of the NuScale SMR I&C design. The restructured, safety-focused approach in Chapter 7 of the Design-Specific Review Standard (DSRS) for the NuScale SMR design [1] is a significant step forward for licensing of any future new and advanced reactor applications. Yet, the staff has learned additional insights and lessons that are important to be captured and addressed in order for the agency to be ready for future new light water or advanced non-light water reactor licensing applications. As such, the NRC staff has embarked upon a new initiative to create a performance-based/risk-informed and technology-neutral guidance for future new and advanced reactor design reviews. This paper presents the NRC staff’s initiative to modernize the NRC’s I&C regulatory infrastructure for the efficient and effective licensing of future I&C designs that account for lessons learned and ever changing I&C technologies.