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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
Nuclear Technology
August 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The human factor in licensing and operating the next generation of nuclear plants
As human factors specialists working at the intersection of human performance and nuclear operations, we are witnessing one of the nuclear sector’s most significant transitions in decades. The emergence of small modular reactors, microreactors, and other advanced designs is reshaping the industry’s landscape. Digital instrumentation and controls, passive safety systems, and increased automation are creating opportunities for greater safety margins and more flexible operation. These same features also fundamentally redefine what it means to “operate” a nuclear plant. Interactions among human roles, automation, and passive systems shape how people maintain awareness, exercise judgment, and intervene when necessary. These developments affect both operational realities and the regulatory foundations on which nuclear safety is built.
Luis A. Perles, Dragan Mirkovic, Gabriel O. Sawakuchi, Uwe Titt
Nuclear Technology | Volume 175 | Number 1 | July 2011 | Pages 22-26
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 16th Biennial Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division / Radiation Biology; Radiation Used in Medicine | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A12264
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this work we present a Monte Carlo study of proton irradiation of lung parenchyma phantoms for particle energies that are typically used for proton therapy, ranging from 150 to 200 MeV. The Bragg peaks of the proton beams were scored in a water phantom distal to voxelized slabs of lung material. A detailed lung parenchyma phantom was modeled and converted into a voxelized structure, with a resolution similar to that obtained by computed tomography, to study differences in the dose deposited by the proton beams distal to the phantom caused by merging small structures into larger voxels. The results show that the Bragg peak dose in water can vary by up to 11%, the distal edge degradation can be as large as 1.1 mm, and the maximum observed changes in the range at 90% of the dose are 0.4 mm in water. From our results, we conclude that computational proton dose predictions in a lung are associated with large uncertainties. To improve the accuracy of dose calculations, a more detailed model of lung parenchyma is needed.