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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
Emma K. Redfoot, R. A. Borrelli
Nuclear Technology | Volume 204 | Number 3 | December 2018 | Pages 249-259
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1478590
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Growing concerns over the impact of fossil fuels on climate change have driven efforts to find sources of energy with low emissions. In response, fluctuating renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, are growing to meet more of the electricity demand. However, maintaining reliable energy accessibility to the grid requires a stable, nonfluctuating source of power. Nuclear power plants (NPPs) provide nearly emissions-free, reliable energy to the grid (refer to “IPCC Fifth Assessment Report,” Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/). To best reduce reliance on fossil fuels while ensuring reliable energy generation and profitability, nuclear renewable hybrid energy systems (NRHESs) focus on tightly coupling renewable generation with a NPP by colocating the generation sources in an industrial park. The industrial park consists of at least the NPP, the renewable energy source, and some form of industrial process that consumes the energy not used by the grid. In this paper, we analyze the computational modeling approaches currently being pursued for NRHESs. We further investigate similarities between nuclear fuel cycle simulators (NFCSs) and NRHESs to determine how NRHES development can benefit from the development of NFCSs. This paper begins by reviewing past research on NRHESs to determine the necessary functionality of modeling software. After determining the necessary software capabilities for an NRHES model, we discuss the characteristics of a NFCS. The characteristics found common to both systems include desirability of a flexible modular design; open source; ability to be coupled to external pieces of software, including economic modeling, optimization methods, and sensitivity analysis; and results that are usable to technical and nontechnical people alike.