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Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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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Latest News
TVA files for Clinch River SMR construction permit
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced yesterday that it has submitted a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the construction of a GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy BWRX-300 small modular reactor at the Clinch River nuclear site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Robert Schleicher, Christina Back
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 144-149
Fission | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13411
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
General Atomics (GA) is developing a new nuclear concept called Energy Multiplier Module (EM2), which is a helium (He) cooled fast reactor with a net electrical output of 240 MW. It employs a “convert & burn” core design which converts fertile to fissile and burns it in situ over a 30-year core life. It can burn SNF from LWRs with no reprocessing, only refabrication. The core can be recycled using an AIROX-based method to remove a fraction of the fission products (FPs) but no heavy metals. The reactor is passively safe and sited below grade. It can sustain a Fukushima type station blackout or even a station blackout combined with a loss of coolant accident using only passive safety systems without radioactivity release or loss of plant. The afterheat is rejected directly to the air. It is a high temperature reactor and employs a direct closed-cycle gas turbine for 48% net efficiency. The reject heat can be released directly to air so that siting near a large water source is not required. GA is targeting a power cost in the range of 6-7 cents/kW-hr, which would make it a competitive power source even with low-cost natural gas. This ambitious power cost is achieved through high efficiency, simplicity of the direct cycle gas turbine power and relatively small subsystems that can be shop fabricated and shipped by road to the site.