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.
Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
2021 ANS Winter Meeting and Technology Expo
November 30–December 3, 2021
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2021
Jul 2021
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2021
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2021
Latest News
Matthew Denman: On Probabilistic Risk Assessment
Matthew Denman
Probabilistic risk assessment is a systematic methodology for evaluating risks associated with a complex engineered technology such as nuclear energy. PRA risk is defined in terms of possible detrimental outcomes of an activity or action, and as such, risk is characterized by three quantities: what can go wrong, the likelihood of the problem, and the resulting consequences of the problem.
Matthew Denman is principal engineer for reliability engineering at Kairos Power and the chair of the American Nuclear Society and American Society of Mechanical Engineers Joint Committee on Nuclear Risk Management’s Subcommittee of Standards Development. As a college student at the University of Florida, Denman took a course on PRA but didn’t enjoy it, because he did not see its connection to the nuclear power industry. Later, during his Ph.D. study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his advisor was Neil Todreas, a well-known thermal hydraulics expert. Todreas was working on a project with George Apostolakis, who would leave MIT to become a commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The project, “Risk Informing the Design of the Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor,” was a multi-university effort funded through a Department of Energy Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) grant. Todreas and Apostolakis were joined in this project by a who’s who of nuclear academia, including Andy Kadak (MIT, ANS past president [1999–2000]), Mike Driscoll (MIT), Mike Golay (MIT), Mike Lineberry (Idaho State University, former ANS treasurer), Rich Denning (Ohio State University), and Tunc Aldemir (Ohio State University).
The American Nuclear Society provides statements which reflect the Society's perspectives on issues of public interest that involve various aspects of nuclear science and technology. Position statements are prepared by key members whose relevant experience or publications inform the documents and then the documents are reviewed by ANS committees and divisions. The final position statements are approved by the Board of Directors.
Categories
Transportation of Radioactive Materials — ANS-18-2021
Read the Statement
More:Other
Small Modular Reactors — ANS-25-2020
Price-Anderson Act — ANS-54-2019
More:Background Information
Nuclear Technology's Critical Role In The World's Future Energy Supply — ANS-43-2019
Advanced Reactors — ANS-35-2018
U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Plants: A Vital National Asset — ANS-26-2017
Fusion Energy — ANS-12-2016
Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Regulations for Nuclear Power Plants — ANS-46-2017
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission — ANS-77-2016
Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors — ANS-13-2015
Reactor Safety — ANS-51-2007
Nuclear Facility Safety Standards — ANS-24-2006
Disposition of Surplus Weapons Plutonium — ANS-47-2020
Licensing of Yucca Mountain as a Geological Repository for Radioactive Wastes — ANS-80-2017
Interim Storage of Used or Spent Nuclear Fuel — ANS-76-2017
Disposal of Low-Level Radioactive Waste — ANS-11-2017
Creation of an Independent Entity to Manage U.S. Used Nuclear Fuel — ANS-22-2015
Nuclear Fuel Recycling — ANS-45-2014
Clearance of Solid Materials from Nuclear Facilities — ANS-50-2008
The Use of Thorium as Nuclear Fuel — ANS-78-2006
Assuring U.S. Global Nuclear Leadership — ANS-83-2021
Nonproliferation — ANS-55-2009
Food Irradiation — ANS-28-2016
Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion Systems — ANS-40-2009
Societal Benefits of Radiation — ANS-73-2008
The Use of Highly Enriched Uranium for the Production of Medical Isotopes — ANS-72-2005
U.S. Radioisotope Supply — ANS-30-2004
Health Effects of Low-Level Radiation — ANS-41-2020
More:Background InformationTechnical Brief
Nuclear Energy's Role in Climate Change Policy — ANS-44-2019
Diversity in the Nuclear Profession — ANS-66-2018
Nuclear Engineering Licensure — ANS-61-2016
Research and Training Reactors — ANS-53-2011
Stewardship of Nuclear Engineering Education — ANS-21-2007
Maintaining a Viable Nuclear Industry Workforce — ANS-29-2006
