ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
Seconds Matter: Rethinking Nuclear Facility Security for the Modern Threat Landscape
In today’s rapidly evolving threat environment, nuclear facilities must prioritize speed and precision in their security responses—because in critical moments, every second counts. An early warning system serves as a vital layer of defense, enabling real-time detection of potential intrusions or anomalies before they escalate into full-blown incidents. By providing immediate alerts and actionable intelligence, these systems empower security personnel to respond decisively, minimizing risk to infrastructure, personnel, and the public. The ability to anticipate and intercept threats at the earliest possible stage not only enhances operational resilience but also reinforces public trust in the safety of nuclear operations. Investing in such proactive technologies is no longer optional—it’s essential for modern nuclear security.
Workshop
Thursday, April 8, 2021|11:45AM–1:00PM EDT
Session Chair:
Mihai A. Diaconeasa
Alternate Chair:
Arjun Earthperson (NC State Univ.)
Session Organizer:
Edward Chen (NC State Univ.)
Track Organizer:
Session Producers:
Alp Tezbasaran (NCSU)
How safe is safe enough? Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), also called Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA), has been very effective in supporting better decisions on how to manage safety by making the risks involved, the contributors, and the options for controlling the risk transparent; and, quantifying the uncertainties, the primary contributor to rare event risk. Moreover, a new generation of methodologies, often referred to as Dynamic PRA (DPRA) or simulation-based PRA, is starting to receive attention for nuclear reactor PRA. These methodologies explicitly account for the time element in the probabilistic system evolution, quantify the effects of phenomenological variability and uncertainties, and are driven by plant analysis tools (e.g., RELAP, MAAP5) to model possible dependencies among failure events that may arise from hardware/software/human interactions. They have shown great promise in reducing user-to-user analysis variability, modeling passive safety systems, aging effects, and human performance. This workshop will cover the principles of PRA, hands-on examples, as well as brief reviews of recent developments in simulation-based PRA methodologies.
To access the session recording, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Register NowLog In
To access session resources, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
To join the conversation, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.