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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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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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Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Hanna Koskinen, Jari Laarni, Marja Liinasuo (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland), Leena Salo (Fortum Power and Heat Oy)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 488-498
We present an application of Systems Usability Case (SUC) as an overall human factors validation approach in a nuclear power plant control room modernization project. SUC enables a requirement-based human factors evaluation of complex technical systems that may cover the entire verification and validation process. The SUC is based on the Safety Case approach and on the Systems Usability construct. One of the main aims of establishing a Safety Case is to bring to the front the arguments and evidence for safety in such a way that the reasoning supports the work of a regulator or licensing organization. In the end, the SUC enables evaluating the Systems Usability of a system and making a reasonable solid argument about the acceptance of the system for use. The question is how the conclusions are reached through a reasoning process, in which the arguments are made about the evidence to approve or reject the claim concerning the quality of the system. The paper presents an application of the SUC to real data from an integrated system validation of the modernized main control room of Loviisa nuclear power plant. The results of the validation are discussed from the point of view of how the SUC approach enabled forming a statement about the acceptance of the control room. Moreover, some examples are given to demonstrate the learnings (e.g., strengths and weaknesses) as well as the development needs of the SUC approach.