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2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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
NRC grants Clinton and Dresden license renewals
Three commercial power reactors across two Illinois nuclear power plants—Constellation’s Clinton and Dresden—have had their licenses renewed for 20 more years by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David I. Poston, Marc A. Gibson, Rene G. Sanchez, Patrick R. McClure
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 1 | June 2020 | Pages 89-117
Technical Paper – Kilopower/KRUSTY special issue | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1730673
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Kilowatt Reactor Using Stirling TechnologY (KRUSTY) was a prototypic nuclear-powered test of a 5-kW(thermal) Kilopower space reactor. This paper presents results from the KRUSTY nuclear system test, which operated the power system at various temperatures and power levels for 28 consecutive hours. The testing showed that the system operated as expected and that the reactor is highly tolerant of possible failure conditions and transients. The key feature demonstrated was the ability of the reactor to load-follow the demand of the power conversion system. The thermal power of the test ranged from 1.5 to 5.0 kW(thermal), with a fuel temperature up to 880°C. Each 80-W(electric)–rated Stirling converter produced ~90 W(electric) at a component efficiency of ~35% and an overall system efficiency of ~25%.