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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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The journey of the U.S. fuel cycle
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
While most big journeys begin with a clear objective, they rarely start with an exact knowledge of the route. When commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson didn’t provide specific “turn right at the big mountain” directions to the Corps of Discovery. He gave goal-oriented instructions: explore the Missouri River, find its source, search for a transcontinental water route to the Pacific, and build scientific and cultural knowledge along the way.
Jefferson left it up to Lewis and Clark to turn his broad, geopolitically motivated guidance into gritty reality.
Similarly, U.S. nuclear policy has begun a journey toward closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. There is a clear signal of support for recycling from the Trump administration, along with growing bipartisan excitement in Congress. Yet the precise path remains unclear.
Technical Session|Panel|Panels|Modeling and Simulation
Thursday, October 10, 2024|8:00–9:45AM MDT|Room 3
Session Chair:
George Mesina
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Robert Kile
A RELAP5-3D Consortium has been formed, comprised of three key entities that have led the development of RELAP5 for decades, namely Idaho National Laboratory, Naval Nuclear Laboratories, and Information Systems Laboratories. By combining the resources of the three leading laboratories, many improvements can be made in the code, the teams, the collaboration, and the overall product. The consortium eliminates competition for new graduating scientist and engineers, combines and leverages the skills, experience, and talents of the three separate teams, creates new synergies, and develops new opportunities. Ultimately, this will extend the productive lifetime of RELAP5-3D to serve the nuclear industry.
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