ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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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Mar 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Kentucky legislature sends nuclear bills to governor
Kentucky’s Republican-majority legislature passed a bill this past week that could bring nuclear energy to the “coal-is-king” state as lawmakers broadly seek solutions to reduce carbon emissions. The bill went to Democratic Gov. Andrew Beshear on Monday for final approval.
Zachary A. Spielman, Casey Kovesdi, Katya LeBlanc
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 3 | March 2023 | Pages 305-312
Technical Paper—Human-Machine Interface Technologies | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2105777
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Unlike renewables such as wind and photovoltaics, nuclear power is a carbon-free source of energy that offers reliable, dispatchable baseload energy. This unique characteristic makes nuclear energy an important component of the U.S. mix of carbon-free energy, and thus, a major contributor to achieving the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. However, the current fleet of nuclear power plants are being outpriced by other energy sources, such as natural gas. One contributor to the high cost of nuclear is the outdated concept of operations. The current fleet of nuclear reactors employs the same concept of operations they started with over half a century ago. Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) Human Factors Engineering (HFE) team under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is engaged in helping the nuclear fleet modernize their control rooms. The goal is to transform nuclear power plant operators’ perceptions to improve efficient and safe plant operation. A major component to successfully transforming an aged control room with advanced technology is to use a design philosophy that guides the modernization effort. This paper discusses design philosophy and the role it plays. Also discussed is the initial approach to design philosophy and adherence to safety and regulatory requirements. Last, a brief discussion of how INL’s HFE team plans to implement a design philosophy that can be used industry wide.