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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
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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Latest News
G7 pledges support for nuclear at Italy meeting
The Group of Seven (G7) recommitted its support for nuclear energy in the countries that opt to use it at a Ministerial Meeting on Climate in Italy last month.
In a statement following the April meeting, the group committed to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the resilience of nuclear supply chains, referencing the goal set by 25 countries during last year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai to triple global nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Zachary A. Spielman, Casey Kovesdi, Katya LeBlanc
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 3 | March 2023 | Pages 305-312
Technical Paper—Human-Machine Interface Technologies | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2105777
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Unlike renewables such as wind and photovoltaics, nuclear power is a carbon-free source of energy that offers reliable, dispatchable baseload energy. This unique characteristic makes nuclear energy an important component of the U.S. mix of carbon-free energy, and thus, a major contributor to achieving the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. However, the current fleet of nuclear power plants are being outpriced by other energy sources, such as natural gas. One contributor to the high cost of nuclear is the outdated concept of operations. The current fleet of nuclear reactors employs the same concept of operations they started with over half a century ago. Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) Human Factors Engineering (HFE) team under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is engaged in helping the nuclear fleet modernize their control rooms. The goal is to transform nuclear power plant operators’ perceptions to improve efficient and safe plant operation. A major component to successfully transforming an aged control room with advanced technology is to use a design philosophy that guides the modernization effort. This paper discusses design philosophy and the role it plays. Also discussed is the initial approach to design philosophy and adherence to safety and regulatory requirements. Last, a brief discussion of how INL’s HFE team plans to implement a design philosophy that can be used industry wide.