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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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Nuclear Dirigo
On April 22, 1959, Rear Admiral George J. King, superintendent of the Maine Maritime Academy, announced that following the completion of the 1960 training cruise, cadets would begin the study of nuclear engineering. Courses at that time included radiation physics, reactor control and instrumentation, reactor theory and engineering, thermodynamics, shielding, core design, reactor maintenance, and nuclear aspects.
C. Stansbury, M. Smith, P. Ferroni, A. Harkness, F. Franceschini (Westinghouse)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 998-1006
Development of the Westinghouse lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) has continued; focused on quantifying drivers of cost and using that information to select new, innovative design characteristics to optimize economics while maintaining and harnessing the LFR’s promise of exceptional safety performance. An intelligent method of concept selection has been employed across a wide variety of systems and components to deliver the lowest total cost to operators. Multiple core designs and fuel management schemes are considered possible within the design, including very high burnup fuel to reduce fuel cycle cost and enhance proliferation resistance. Notably, Westinghouse is considering supercritical CO2 as advanced balance of plant technology, driving both economics and efficiency. When coupled to an innovative thermal energy storage system, the LFR will be capable of supporting the adoption of non-dispatchable grid resources by providing economical and scalable energy storage. By utilizing lead to achieve a plant economic objective, rather than a predetermined fuel mission, Westinghouse believes they can effectively deliver the promise of Generation IV nuclear technologies; low-cost, intrinsically safe, sustainable, and proliferation resistant, by combining the benefits of LFR technology with customer needs-driven innovation and the company's experience, matured over decades of nuclear power plant design, development, and commercialization.