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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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Sep 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Optimizing nuclear plant outages: Data analytics tools and methods for enhancing resilience and efficiency
Nuclear power plant refueling outages are among the most complex phases in a plant’s operational cycle.1 During these outages, tens of thousands of activities, including maintenance and surveillance, are conducted simultaneously within a short timeframe. Typically lasting three to four weeks, these operations involve large crews of contractors with diverse skill sets performing tasks ranging from testing and surveillance to maintenance. Outages may extend longer if major backfitting or modernization projects are planned. Consequently, plant outages are expensive, incurring significant operational costs, such as contractor labor and equipment, as well as the loss of generation while the plant is off line. This can easily cost a plant operator more than $1 million a day. Therefore, there is a constant need to mitigate the economic impact on plants by reducing the frequency, duration, and risks associated with these outages.2,3
Technical Session|FCWMD
Wednesday, October 8, 2025|10:00–11:40AM CDT|Brentwood/Franklin
Session Chair:
Kenneth J. Geelhood
Co-Chair:
Christopher Van Wert
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Hierarchical Shape Optimization of Nuclear Fuel Assemblies Using Multi-Level Pin to Assembly Analysis in MOOSE
10:00–10:25AM CDT
Jonathan Geymer (NCSU), Muhammad Altahhan (NCSU), Max Nezdyur (INL), Lynn Munday (INL), Yousry Azmy (NCSU)
Paper
Fission Gas Release Modeling and Validation with CTF Code for High Energy Fuel RIA Analysis
10:25–10:50AM CDT
Charles Cheron (NCSU), Gregory Stehle (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Daniel Torres (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Yixing Sung (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Agustin Abarca (NCSU), Maria Avramova (NCSU)
Investigation of Stepwise Power Increase Effects on VVER-440 Fuel Cladding
10:50–11:15AM CDT
Andras Vanyi (HUN-REN Centre for Energy Research), Gergely Kustar (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Peter Meszaros (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Viktor Holl (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Zoltan Kato (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant), Gabor Bona (MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant)
Homogenization-Based Softening Model for Fragmented Nuclear Fuel
11:15–11:40AM CDT
Milica Krstovic (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Alessandro Scolaro (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), Paul Van Uffelen (European Commission, JRC), Mathieu Hursin (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne)
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