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
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Panelists discuss U.S. path to criticality in ANS webinar
The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a panel discussion featuring prominent figures from the nuclear sector who discussed the industry’s ongoing push for criticality.
Yasir Arafat, chief technical officer of Aalo Atomics; Jordan Bramble, CEO of Antares Nuclear; and Rita Baranwal, chief nuclear officer of Radiant Industries, participated in the discussion and covered their recent progress in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program. Nader Satvat, director of nuclear systems design at Kairos Power, gave an update on the company’s ongoing demonstration projects taking place outside of the landscape of DOE authorization.
T. Ozawa, T. Abe
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 152 | Number 1 | January 2006 | Pages 37-47
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE06-A2561
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In order to improve fast reactor performance, optimization of the design margin is required. Consequently, a probabilistic method for fuel rod design is being considered, and the Baysian Oriented Fuel Rod Performance Evaluation (BORNFREE) probabilistic code, which computed the statistical responses of several performance parameters concerning fuel rod integrity, was developed. The probability that the performance parameter exceeds the criterion and the design margin can be quantitatively estimated by using this code. In this study, uncertainties that affect the cladding stress, which is one of the performance parameters that restricts the lifetime of a fuel rod, were statistically simulated, and the probabilistic results were compared with the deterministic results of the conventional method. As a result of the trial computation, it was confirmed that the deterministic results were adequately conservative and exceeded the 3 upper level of the probabilistic results for any case. Furthermore, the deterministic results showed significant overestimation as compared with the probabilistic results. Consequently, it is suggested that the probabilistic method is a feasible option to optimize the design evaluation to expand the lifetime of a fuel rod.