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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
INL makes a case for eliminating ALARA and setting higher dose limits
A report just released by Idaho National Laboratory reviews decades of radiation protection standards and research on the health effects of low-dose radiation and recommends that the current U.S. annual occupational dose limit of 5,000 mrem be maintained without applying ALARA—the “as low as reasonably achievable” regulatory concept first introduced in 1971—below that threshold.
Noting that epidemiological studies “have consistently failed to demonstrate statistically significant health effects at doses below 10,000 mrem delivered at low dose rates,” the report also recommends “future consideration of increasing this limit to 10,000 mrem/year with appropriate cumulative-dose constraints.”
13th Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control & Human-Machine Interface Technologies (NPIC&HMIT 2023)
Technical Session|Panel
Tuesday, July 18, 2023|10:00–11:45AM EDT|301D
Session Chair:
Pareez Golub (Sargent & Lundy)
Session Organizer:
Raymond Herb (Southern Nuclear)
Since nuclear power is a key solution to meeting CO2 goals, utilities are pursuing subsequent license renewal of the existing fleet of light water reactors to meet the future demand up to 80 years and beyond. To support the extended life of the plant and address obsolete analog controls, most utilities are installing digital controls. Often ignored in these plans are the Main Control Rooms (MCRs), which will also need to be modernized. This is currently accomplished through piecemeal upgrade projects that occasionally add digital Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) to the MCR. MCR modernization is best addressed as an integrated strategy to design the new HMIs in a standard, holistic manner supporting high quality operations. Additionally, the MCRs must address the next generation of operators and take full advantage of the digital systems capabilities to reduce operational risk through an evolving concept of operations. This panel will present the plans from several large utilities and industry HFE experts including aspects of strategic planning, evolving concepts of operations, HFE program development and licensing of those new digital main control rooms.
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