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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Robert P. Martin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 193 | Number 1 | January 2016 | Pages 96-112
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the RELAP5-3D Computer Code | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-143
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper reviews the historical and contemporary precedence regarding the development of knowledge, its reformulation in computer codes, and subsequent application in decision making. It highlights the practical challenges of this process as it applies to the investigation of engineered systems to deliver on both promised benefits and protection from postulated failures. A model for demonstrating model content, completeness, and consistency is described, invoking and extending a knowledge/content model attributed to Popper. While the specific example examining the evolution of the thermal-hydraulic knowledge base applied for nuclear power plant safety analysis and its capture in the RELAP series of computer analysis codes is presented, the framework is general, true to the scientific method, and thus broadly applicable. It concludes that while content of our knowledge base is perpetually increasing, completeness and consistency are fundamentally unattainable; however, within a well-designed evaluation methodology, measurable proof, sufficient for regulatory deliberation, is possible.