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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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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
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Charles W. Forsberg
Nuclear Technology | Volume 164 | Number 3 | December 2008 | Pages 348-367
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT164-348
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The two major energy challenges for the United States are to replace crude oil in our transportation system and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A multilayer strategy to replace oil using nuclear energy and various carbon sources (fossil fuels, biomass, or air) is described that (a) allows the continued use of liquid fuels (ethanol, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel) in the transport sector, (b) does not require major changes in lifestyle by the consumer, and (c) ultimately eliminates carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector. Nuclear energy is used to provide electricity, heat, and ultimately hydrogen, with the hydrogen produced by either electrolysis or more advanced thermochemical production methods.In the near term, nuclear energy can provide low-temperature heat (steam) for ethanol production and electricity for transportation. Midterm options include low-temperature heat and limited quantities of hydrogen for processing cellulosic biomass into liquid fuels (ethanol and lignin-derived hydrocarbons) and providing high-temperature heat for (a) traditional refining and (b) underground oil production and refining. In the longer term, biomass becomes the feedstock for liquid-fuels production, with nuclear energy providing heat and large quantities of hydrogen for complete biomass conversion to hydrocarbon fuels. Nuclear energy could be used to provide over half the total energy required by the transportation system, and the use of oil in the transport sector could potentially be eliminated within several decades.