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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.
A. I. Miller, D. A. Spagnolo, J. R. DeVore
Nuclear Technology | Volume 112 | Number 2 | November 1995 | Pages 204-213
Technical Paper | Radioisotopes and Isotope | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35174
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium removal and heavy water upgrading are essential components of the heavy water-moderated reactor that is the heart of the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) to be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The technologies for these two processes, which are closely related, are reviewed in the context of the ANS requirements. The evolution of the design of the Heavy Water Upgrading and Detritiation Facility (HWUDF) for ANS is outlined, and the final conceptual design is presented. The conceptual design of HWUDF has two main component systems: (a) a front-end combined electrolysis and catalytic exchange (CECE) system and (b) a back-end cryogenic distillation (CD) system. The CECE process consists of a countercurrent exchange column for hydrogen-water exchange over a wetproofed catalyst and electrolysis to convert water into hydrogen. It accepts all the tritiated heavy water streams of the reactor and performs an almost total separation into a protium (light hydrogen) stream containing tritium and deuterium at only natural abundance and a deuterium stream containing all the tritium and almost no protium. The tritium-containing deuterium stream is then processed by a CD unit, which removes over 90% of the tritium and concentrates it to >99% tritium for indefinite storage as a metal tritide. Deuterium gas with a small residue of tritium is recombined with oxygen from the electrolytic cells and returned as heavy water to the reactor.