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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
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Latest News
How robust is HALEU from a nonproliferation perspective?
Shikha Prasad
High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) has emerged as a popular fuel choice for advanced small modular reactors due to its long power production periods before refueling. It is currently being pursued by TerraPower, X-energy, BWX Technologies, Kairos, Oklo, and other reactor companies. HALEU has a uranium-235 enrichment ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, whereas traditional LWRs use low-enriched uranium fuel enriched up to 5 percent.
HALEU will provide power for longer durations, compared with traditional LWRs. But could it also provide an opportunity for more rapid proliferation, as is speculated in a 2023 National Academy of Sciences report on advanced nuclear reactors (nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26630/)?
If a nuclear proliferator conspires to divert fresh nuclear fuel for weapons production when it has not been used in a reactor, the effort required in separative work units (SWUs) to enrich U-235 from 5 percent to 90 percent and that required to enrich from 20 percent to 90 percent are both very small, compared with the effort required to enrich U-235 from its natural abundance to the initial 5 percent.
Technical Session|Experimental Reactor Physics
Wednesday, April 24, 2024|3:30–5:15PM PDT|Franciscan B
Session Chair:
Ryan H. Stewart
Alternate Chair:
Eva E. Davidson
Session Organizer:
Luka Snoj
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NAUTILUS: A Project for the Development of Experimental Methods for Investigating Innovative Approaches to Nuclear Waste Management and to Nuclear Safety
3:30–3:50PM PDT
M. Viebach (Technische Univ. Dresden), A. Knospe (Technische Univ. Dresden), C. Lange (Technische Univ. Dresden), B. Merk (Univ. Liverpool), A. Hurtado (Technische Univ. Dresden)
Paper
Preliminary Analysis of a Nuclear-Grade Sandwich Composite for Transportable Microreactor Shielding
3:50–4:10PM PDT
Ryan H. Stewart (INL), Samuel E. Bays (INL), Adam X. Zabriskie (INL), Joshua N. Zelina (INL), Abderrafi M. Ougouag (INL), Robert C. O'Brien (INL)
Exploring Boron Monitoring Solutions in Pressurized Water Reactors for Enhanced Loss of Coolant Accidents Mitigation
4:10–4:30PM PDT
Nouhaila Tabti (CEA), Adrien Sari (CEA), Dominique Tromson (CEA)
Reliability Assessment of Passive Nuclear Systems Influenced by Corrosion in Stratified Hot Fluids
4:30–4:50PM PDT
Akmali Masood (Assystem Energy and Operation), R. Plana (Assystem Energy and Operation)
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