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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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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.
Miguel Morales Gutierrez, Stefano Caruso, Nikitas Diomidis (Nagra)
Proceedings | 16th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM 2017) | Charlotte, NC, April 9-13, 2017 | Pages 498-505
According to the Swiss disposal concept, the safety of a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is based on a multi-barrier system. The disposal canister is an important component of the engineered barrier concept, providing containment of the SNF for at least 10,000 years. This study evaluates the criticality safety and shielding of candidate disposal canister concepts, focusing on the fulfillment of the sub-criticality criterion and on limiting radiolysis processes at the outer surface of the canister which can enhance corrosion mechanisms.
The effective neutron multiplication factor (k-eff) and the surface dose rates are calculated for three different canister designs and material combinations for boiling water reactor (BWR) canisters, containing 12 spent fuel assemblies (SFA), and pressurized water reactor (PWR) canisters, with 4 SFAs. For each configuration, individual criticality and shielding calculations are carried out using the SCALE6.2 package (KENO-VI for criticality; MAVRIC for shielding). The results show that k-eff falls below the defined upper safety limit (USL) of 0.95 for all BWR configurations, while staying above USL for the PWR ones. For a final burnup of 55MWd/kgHM and 30y cooling time, the combined photon-neutron surface dose rate is well below the defined limit of 1Gy/h in all cases.