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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott 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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High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Michael T. Rowland, Scott Purvis (IAEA), Rodney Busquim e. Silva (Univ of Sao Paulo)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1346-1351
In June 2016, the IAEA commenced a new coordinated research project (CRP) J02008 titled Enhancing Computer Security Incident Response at Nuclear Facilities. The objective of this CRP is to conduct activities which support improved computer security capabilities at nuclear facilities to support the prevention and detection of, and response to, computer security incidents that have the potential to either directly or indirectly adversely affect nuclear safety and nuclear security. This CRP provides the opportunity to participate in four activities to enhance computer security incident analysis and response: (1) Operator support for computer security incident recognition and response; (2) Analysis and technology support for computer security incident response; (3) Computer security Information Exchange; and (4) Cyber Crime Investigation. To achieve these aims, 17 institutes from 13 countries began to conduct research and development on design and construction of research environments that reflect and perform like nuclear facilities and/or their I&C systems. The oversight and coordination of the project led to the definition of three roles: (1) Facility/System Builders; (2) Threat Modellers; and (3) Capability Providing Organizations. Facility/System Builders are organizations that are intending to build mock-ups of nuclear systems as part of their research. The current completed efforts are the first release of a model/simulator that can simulate the impact of cyber attacks on a hypothetical facility. The model/simulator can also be used with compatible hardware in the loop systems. Threat Modellers are organizations that are developing Design Basis Threat (DBT), Scenarios, and Threat Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP). The objective of these organizations is to build upon existing threat models and information exchange to establish a possible threat model applicable to nuclear security. Capability Providing Organizations are organizations that can provide specific capabilities to others in the CRP that stem from their background expertise and/or the research they will be conducting in the CRP, e.g., on vulnerability assessment, security controls assessment, policies. These organizations will be using IEC cyber security standards as a common basis on which to postulate, design, and implement computer security measures with respect to incident response. This paper will provide a summary of the research approaches and the results of the CRP J02008, and preview the final results expected by the end of 2019.
