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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.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Richard Turk (Technology Resources), Richard Cooper (A Typical High-End KVM System LLC)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 684-691
The first of the Generation III+ Advanced Light Water Reactors with advanced digital control rooms are nearing completion or, in some cases, already operational. Compared to their predecessors these control rooms represent a major step change in the display of information. Large panel multiple screen “wall” displays using Keyboard Video Mouse (KVM) networks are the centerpieces of the control rooms of Generation III+ (Gen III+) Nuclear Power Plants. For example, the AP1000 control room wall display consists of 12 wide panel screens. Stations for operators in the control room have four screens. While a very dramatic change for the nuclear industry, other industries have many years of experience operating with these types of displays in operations centers and so called “war rooms”. This paper will outline some of that experience. First experience is reviewed from the oil and gas industry drilling operations, which faces a multitude of complex business challenges. Asset Integrity Management (AIM) using a control center is an overarching approach designed to address these challenges. Experience from the defense industry is then examined. In most cases, a military command and control center’s wall display and KVM routing systems are considered mission critical. They usually provide highly sensitive or very important content to users who are driving key operations and making mission critical decisions. Also examined air traffic control systems and associated training facilities. Finally the experience of a major independent regional electric transmission and distribution organization in building a new 70,000-square-foot Backup Control Center (BCC), some 24 miles from the main control system is described.