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Optimizing Maintenance Strategies in Power Generation: Embracing Predictive and Preventive Approaches
The American Nuclear Society has recently published a new standard:
ANSI/ANS-30.3-2022, Light Water Reactor Risk-Informed, Performance-Based Design.
The standard is available for purchase from the ANS Store.
The ANS Board of Directors recently approved two position statements from the Public Policy Committee: a revision to PS #35, Advanced Reactors, and the completely new PS #84, Safeguards and Security for Advanced Reactors Using HALEU. ANS’s position statements reflect the Society’s perspectives on issues of public interest that involve various aspects of nuclear science and technology and are prepared by key members whose relevant experience or publications inform the documents. Prior to approval for publication, the documents are reviewed by relevant ANS committees and divisions.
At the recent ANS Annual Meeting, Andrew Klein, past ANS president (2016–2017), professor emeritus of nuclear science and engineering at Oregon State University, and the current editor of ANS’s journal Nuclear Technology, announced his retirement at the end of his term in June 2023. ANS is looking for qualified members who are interested in becoming the next technical editor of the journal. The selected person will be appointed “editor-designate” and will work with Dr. Klein for a period of time before taking over the full editor’s role.
Klein, professor emeritus at Oregon State University and past ANS president, took over the duties of technical editor in 2015, a few years before his term as ANS president. During his tenure as editor, Dr. Klein has raised NT ’s reputation for technical excellence and arranged a schedule of twelve issues annually covering the most important topics in nuclear technology.
ANS’s August 4 online event “The New Space Race is Going Nuclear” featured several expert panelists who discussed the growing importance of nuclear technologies in space commercialization and exploration. Although nuclear energy has long played a role in space missions, participants discussed the latest exciting developments in the space nuclear field and presented their views on how increased application of nuclear technologies could fundamentally transform the ways in which both crewed and uncrewed space missions are carried out.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics released a report in June recommending that the United States invest a total of $1.5 billion in low-dose radiation research over the next 15 years. Congress is working through the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations process at this writing, and many in the nuclear community are hopeful that research programs that have been starved of funding and leadership will be reinvigorated and bring long-overdue clarity to questions of low-dose radiation science, policy, and regulation.
The next opportunity to earn professional engineer (P.E.) licensure in nuclear engineering is this fall. Now is the time to sign up and begin studying with the help of materials like the online module program offered by the American Nuclear Society.
According to Joshua Vajda, chair of the ANS Professional Engineering Examination Committee (PEEC), it is important for ANS as a technical society to continue to encourage professional licensure. “Emphasizing the importance of obtaining nuclear credentials is a Society initiative to maintain high ethical standards in the industry and to provide career advancement for the next generation of young practicing nuclear engineers,” Vajda said.
The United States could invest a total of $1.5 billion in low-dose radiation research over the next 15 years if Congress, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and other stakeholders carry out the recommendations set forth in a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics report released in June.
Join ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy on July 15 at 12 p.m. (EDT) for a free public webinar—“High Expectations for the Future of Low-Dose Radiation Research"—on the impact of the National Academies report as the U.S. embarks on a new era of low-dose radiation research.
ANS has produced three updated and newly designed wall maps that together show the location of every commercial power reactor in the world that is operable, under construction, or ordered as of the end of 2021.
Each map includes a table that lists the generating capacity, design type, date of commercial operation (actual or expected), and reactor supplier for the nuclear power plants. The maps are individually segmented into these areas:
The maps are available individually or in two- or three-map combos.
ANS and ANSI have published the following new standard, which is available for purchase in the ANS Store:
ANSI/ANS-8.7-2022, Nuclear Criticality Safety in the Storage of Fissile Materials (revision of ANSI/ANS-8.7-1998 [R2017])
In an ANS-sponsored online event held on June 8, independent energy consultant Lake Barrett shared his perspective on the Netflix docudrama series Meltdown: Three Mile Island. Barrett, who was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s on-site director and senior federal official for the cleanup of the TMI Unit 2 accident in the early 1980s, countered inaccuracies in the series during an interview with ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy.
ANS is hosting an online conversation titled “What Really Happened at Three Mile Island?” about the new Netflix series on the accident. The virtual event will be held on Wednesday, June 8, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (EDT).
Register now. This event is for ANS members only.
Piercy
The Association Forum recently highlighted the American Nuclear Society’s rapid response to the unfolding events in Ukraine earlier this year. Kim Kelly of the group’s Forum Magazine conducted an interview with ANS Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy, who described the Society’s efforts to address public safety concerns and correct media reports regarding Ukraine’s nuclear power plants in the early days of the war. Piercy also discussed joint efforts between ANS and the European Nuclear Society (ENS) in setting up a relief fund to help workers in Ukraine’s nuclear energy industry.
Giving accurate information: Piercy noted that “existing international ties and bilateral ties we [ANS] have with other countries really came into play as the Ukraine invasion unfolded.” The Society had a team of nuclear experts in place, some with direct experience in Ukraine, to reach out to media outlets, answer media requests for information, and quickly correct inaccurate information that was reported.
The ANS Young Members Group hosted the latest of its “Spotlight on Nuclear Careers” virtual events on May 27. This event, on "Energy," featured Sarah Camba Lynn, manager of the balance of plant and diesel systems strategic engineering group at Luminant’s Comanche Peak nuclear power plant in Glen Rose, Texas. Lynn was previously a nuclear steam supply system engineer at Comanche Peak. She is also the treasurer for the ANS Young Members Group executive committee and an executive committee member in the ANS Operations and Power Division. The webinar was moderated by Ishita Trivedi of the Young Members Group.
ANS is set to host a virtual event titled “Turbulence Modeling and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes,” the first in a new four-part lecture series on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) presented by the Society. The webinar runs from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, May 25, and is open to ANS members only. Advance registration is required.
ANS will host its first fully in-person national meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when the 2022 ANS Annual Meeting takes place in Anaheim, Calif., June 12-16.
In anticipation of the event, ANS is putting on a webinar titled ”Annual Meeting Preview: Getting back to what we do best.” This hourlong sneak peek is on May 24 at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) and is free and open to everyone. The program will feature organizers who have been planning the many technical sessions for ANS Annual as well as the three embedded topical meetings:
Earlier this month, the ANS Board of Directors approved the creation of two new student sections—Reed College in Portland, Ore., and Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.
ANS’s student sections represent the next generation of nuclear—they are critical to the Society’s goal of aiding the next generation in their pursuit of advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies for the benefit of humankind. Student sections provide students with the knowledge, tools, and opportunities required to achieve success in or out of the nuclear field.
The deadline for applications to the ANS's Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship has been extended. All ANS members are invited to apply to help the Society fulfill its strategic goal of informing nuclear public policy.
All applications and supporting documents are now due by 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Monday, May 23.
ANS has recently published a new standard:
ANSI/ANS-2.21-2022, Criteria for Assessing Atmospheric Effects on the Ultimate Heat Sink (revision of ANSI/ANS-2.21-2012 [R2016]).
The standard is available for purchase from the ANS Store.
Piercy at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
When Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) officially opened with a ribbon-cutting event on May 2, ANS Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy was there to celebrate the result of many years of hard work.
“Big congratulations to MSU for bringing this project to fruition on time and on budget,” Piercy said. “FRIB will allow scientists to probe the origins of stars and the fundamental structure of matter and explore new life-saving medical treatments.”
Piercy worked closely with MSU’s FRIB team for several years before and after the university was selected over Argonne National Laboratory to host the facility, and he has seen the project come full circle. He was present at both the groundbreaking in 2014 and the ribbon-cutting ceremony in May.
Huff
The Senate has confirmed ANS member Kathryn Huff as the next assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) in the Department of Energy. The bipartisan vote, held earlier this afternoon, was 80–11.
President Biden selected Huff in January to fill the top spot at NE—a post that has been vacant since Rita Baranwal (also an ANS member) announced she was leaving the position on January 8, 2021.
Huff came to the DOE in May of last year to serve as principal deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, going on unpaid leave from her position as an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, where she led the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group.