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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
DOE-NE’s newest fuel consortium includes defense from antitrust laws
The Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy is setting up a nuclear fuel Defense Production Act Consortium that will seek voluntary agreements with interested companies “to increase fuel availability, provide more access to reliable power, and end America’s reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials needed to power the nation’s nuclear renaissance.” According to an August 22 DOE press release, the plan invokes the Defense Production Act (DPA) to give consortium members “defense from antitrust laws when certain criteria are met” and “allow industry consultation to develop plans of action.” DOE-NE is looking for interested companies to join the consortium ahead of its first meeting, scheduled for October 14.
Nick DeJulia, Trevor Jones (AMS)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1251-1259
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is equipped with a magnetically coupled positioning system known as a control rod drive mechanism (CRDM). In many cases, the plant system that measures the position of the control rods in the reactor core is the digital rod position indication (DRPI) system. The DRPI system is designed to continuously sense and display the positions of each of the control and shutdown rods. Both of these systems consist of coils above the reactor head, connectors at the reactor head and at the containment penetration, instrumentation and power cabinets, and long runs of interconnecting cables in between these system components. The objective of cable testing is to evaluate the condition of the rod control and position indication coils, connections, cables and to identify any defects or anomalies that may adversely affect their normal operation. Various electrical measurements can provide insight into the health and reliability of these rod control and rod position cable circuits. Some measurements are used to identify configuration anomalies, others test the integrity of connectors and proper isolation from station ground, and some validate the health of the coil to identify resistive connections, insulation degradation, or turn-to-turn shorts. This systematic approach to rod control and rod position coil and cable testing increases system reliability, reduces the likelihood of unplanned outages from dropped rods, and reduces outage times and maintenance costs which in turn reduces costs for the electrical utility.