ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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Apr 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
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.
Johanna Oxstrand, Rachael Hill, Katya Le Blanc (INL)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1472-1477
As the nuclear industry begins to move into the digital age, multiple concerns have been brought up regarding the implications to field workers, such as auxiliary operators and maintenance technicians, transitioning to a modern work process. Multiple research efforts have been focused on just that, however there are several roles at a nuclear plant aside from field workers that must be considered. One of these roles is the procedure writer. Procedure writers participate in a completely manual paper procedure process. Though they might author procedures on a computer, the moment they complete a revision, the process becomes manual and labor-intensive. The majority of bottlenecks associated with a manual, paper process could be resolved by transitioning to a digital process. In contrast to what many seem to believe, procedure writers are not opposed to a digital process transition. This is not to suggest they are without concern, but their overall perspective errs on the side of taking advantage of an opportunity to improve their current process. This can only be done if procedure writers are involved early on in the design and development process. That way, potential concerns can be addressed and feedback regarding functional and design requirements can be incorporated into the design of the tool during the development phase.