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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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Latest News
Take steps on SNF and HLW disposal
Matt Bowen
With a new administration and Congress, it is time once again to ponder what will happen—if anything—on U.S. spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management policy over the next few years. One element of the forthcoming discussion seems clear: The executive and legislative branches are eager to talk about recycling commercial SNF. Whatever the merits of doing so, it does not obviate the need for one or more facilities for disposal of remaining long-lived radionuclides. For that reason, making progress on U.S. disposal capabilities remains urgent, lest the associated radionuclide inventories simply be left for future generations to deal with.
In March, Rick Perry, who was secretary of energy during President Trump’s first administration, observed that during his tenure at the Department of Energy it became clear to him that any plan to move SNF “required some practical consent of the receiving state and local community.”1
Dong H. Nguyen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 49 | Number 1 | June 1980 | Pages 80-91
Technical Paper | Nuclear Power Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32509
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A methodology has been constructed to assess the uncertainty in an output consequence calculated by a large code, due to the uncertainties in input data. A sensitivity analysis was first applied to the code to screen the input variables, leaving only those most affecting the output consequences. The variations of these effective inputs were prescribed by an effective combination of statistical designs, which accounted for the linear, quadratic, and two-factor interaction effects of the inputs on the calculated consequence. A key result of the methodology was the probability density function of the consequence of interest, expressed as a distribution of the Pearson family. The confidence level in calculating a consequence was readily obtained from this distribution function. The methodology was applied to the computer code MELT-IIIA, a major code for the analysis of the hypothetical core disruptive accident in liquidmetal fast breeder reactors, and the confidence level in predicting the time of initial pin failure during a transient overpower accident in the fast test reactor was determined. The sensitivity of this confidence level to the uncertainties of the input data was also shown, thereby establishing the need for well-documented statistical properties of data used in nuclear reactor safety analysis.