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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
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!
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Latest News
IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
Young S. Park, Xiaorui Zhao, Pawel Dworzanski, Zachary T. Gima, Richard B. Vilim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 191 | Number 3 | September 2015 | Pages 223-233
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-108
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A prototype virtual reality simulator for mechanical operations in a sodium-cooled fast reactor is described. Developing simulation capabilities for fuel-handling operations and component inspection are of particular emphasis. Building on the first prototype, the objective is to provide multimodal (visual and haptic) sensing functionality, improve component models, and implement select scenarios for demonstration. RoboticsLab, a robotics software development framework, enables the necessary integration and development for mechanical operations simulation, supporting the capabilities for the construction of the virtual reality environment, fast robot prototyping, dynamics simulation, and customized sensing. Special emphasis was given to the simulation of the fuel-handling system and under-sodium viewing operation, which is one of the bottlenecks in the sodium-cooled fast reactor technology roadmap. By providing computer-based visualization, the virtual reality simulator can facilitate better reactor operation training and more comprehensive understanding and development of new concepts in integral mechanical operations.
