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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
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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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Securing the advanced reactor fleet
Physical protection accounts for a significant portion of a nuclear power plant’s operational costs. As the U.S. moves toward smaller and safer advanced reactors, similar protection strategies could prove cost prohibitive. For tomorrow’s small modular reactors and microreactors, security costs must remain appropriate to the size of the reactor for economical operation.
Robert P. Martin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 193 | Number 1 | January 2016 | Pages 96-112
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the RELAP5-3D Computer Code | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-143
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper reviews the historical and contemporary precedence regarding the development of knowledge, its reformulation in computer codes, and subsequent application in decision making. It highlights the practical challenges of this process as it applies to the investigation of engineered systems to deliver on both promised benefits and protection from postulated failures. A model for demonstrating model content, completeness, and consistency is described, invoking and extending a knowledge/content model attributed to Popper. While the specific example examining the evolution of the thermal-hydraulic knowledge base applied for nuclear power plant safety analysis and its capture in the RELAP series of computer analysis codes is presented, the framework is general, true to the scientific method, and thus broadly applicable. It concludes that while content of our knowledge base is perpetually increasing, completeness and consistency are fundamentally unattainable; however, within a well-designed evaluation methodology, measurable proof, sufficient for regulatory deliberation, is possible.