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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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The 2025 ANS election results are in!
Spring marks the passing of the torch for American Nuclear Society leadership. During this election cycle, ANS members voted for the newest vice president/president-elect, treasurer, and six board of director positions (four U.S., one non-U.S., one student). New professional division leadership was also decided on in this election, which opened February 25 and closed April 15. About 21 percent of eligible members of the Society voted—a similar turnout to last year.
Milorad Dusic, Mark Dutton, Horst Glaeser, Joachim Herb, Javier Hortal, Rafael Mendizábal, Fernando Pelayo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 188 | Number 1 | October 2014 | Pages 63-77
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-16
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In 2009 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published “Deterministic Safety Analysis for Nuclear Power Plants Specific Safety Guide,” Specific Safety Guide No. SSG-2 (hereinafter referred to as SSG-2). SSG-2 addresses four options for the application of deterministic safety analyses. Option 1, which has been used since the early days of civil nuclear power and is still used today, uses conservative codes/models and conservative initial and boundary (I&B) conditions. Option 2, which is frequently used worldwide, uses realistic codes/models but with conservative I&B conditions. Option 3 uses realistic codes/models and realistic I&B conditions and therefore needs also to consider the associated uncertainties. Today, option 3 is known as the Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty option. Option 4 is not developed in SSG-2 and only indicates that option 4 is an attempt to combine insights from probabilistic safety analyses with a deterministic approach, which results in a risk-informed safety analysis. In options 1, 2, and 3, the availability of safety systems is based on conservative assumptions, whereas in option 4, the availability of safety systems is derived by probabilistic means. This paper explains in more detail the approach proposed for option 4 and provides illustrative examples for its application, recognizing the fact that option 4 is still a research option and will remain so for some time.
