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Nuclear Installations Safety
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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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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!
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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
PPPL study points to better fusion plasma control
The combination of two previously known methods for managing plasma conditions can result in enhanced control of plasma in a fusion reactor, according to a simulation performed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
J. A. B. Carvalho, P. F. Frutuoso e Melo, C. M. F. Lapa
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 10 | October 2022 | Pages 1562-1576
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2050041
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Although the primary responsibility for safety is assigned to the operator of a nuclear installation, the regulatory body must ensure that the level of safety is adequate. The role of a regulator is to develop safety requirements, to monitor their implementation, and if necessary, to perform enforcement actions. This is done through the implementation of core and supporting functions; therefore, it is very important to monitor their effectiveness in a manner to proactively monitor nuclear safety. This work proposes a method using expert elicitation to develop a set of indicators to determine the effectiveness of the regulatory core functions (strategic indicators) that will compose a Regulatory Management Index (RMI). The supporting areas, which can have a direct impact on the core functions, were also considered as an indicator (cross-cutting indicators), but in contrast to the traditional indicator systems, they were not considered just as another indicator to be aggregated. The method introduces the use of a penalty factor on which a performance of a cross-cutting indicator below an acceptable range is used to penalize the related strategic indicator. Expert opinion is also used to weigh the relative importance between the indicators and to establish performance criteria for them. A case study was implemented to check the method’s feasibility.