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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.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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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ANS announces 2025 Presidential Citations
One of the privileges of being president of the American Nuclear Society is awarding Presidential Citations to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort in some manner for the benefit of ANS or the nuclear community at large. Citations are conferred twice each year, at the Annual and Winter Meetings.
ANS President Lisa Marshall has named this season’s recipients, who will receive recognition at the upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago during the Special Session on Tuesday, June 17.
Clara A. Lloyd, Anthony R. M. Roulstone, Campbell Middleton (University of Cambridge)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 1042-1049
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) based on established light-water technology have gained a lot of attention from the nuclear industry; however, the potential that SMRs have to reduce the cost of nuclear construction has been under-studied. Modularisation is a cost reducing mechanism where a SMR power plant is subdivided into smaller units, or modules. These modules can be produced offsite in a controlled environment, potentially offering cost reductions that offset their apparently higher capital costs.
This paper will investigate the effects modularisation and standardisation might have on SMR capital costs. Modularisation and standardisation not only reduce direct and indirect costs, respectively, but also enable activation of other cost-reducing mechanisms, such as shifting construction work from site to a factory, transferring learning between tasks, and achieving economies of multiples. It will show that constructing a SMR using the same methods as current large reactors is not economically feasible and will demonstrate how modularisation reduces SMR capital costs.
The primary constraints on module size are imposed by weight and height transport limitations, linking reactor size to ease of modularisation. This leads to an analysis of which SMR components and structures should be targeted for modularisation in order to achieve optimal cost benefits.