ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
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
Tuesday, October 7, 2025|10:00–11:40AM CDT|Salon A
Session Chair:
John Beale
Co-Chair:
Dong-Joo Kim
To access paper attachments, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Register NowLog In
Irradiation Vehicles for Evaluating SiC/SiC Cladding Bowing Under Neutron Flux Gradients
10:00–10:25AM CDT
Nicholas G. Russell (ORNL), David Chandler (ORNL), Peter Doyle (ORNL), Takaaki Koyanagi (ORNL), Christian M. Petrie (ORNL)
Paper
Inspection of Cladding Coating with Wideband Laser Induced Guided Ultrasonic Waves
10:25–10:50AM CDT
Andrew Campbell (Univ of South Carolina), Jiawei Guo (Univ of South Carolina), Boshi Chen (Univ of South Carolina), JANNATUL FERDAUSI (Univ of South Carolina), Yi Wang (Univ of South Carolina), Lingyu Yu (Univ. South Carolina), Victor Giurgiutiu (University of South Carolina)
Mechanical Testing of Hydrogen-Charged Cr-Coated Zirconium Alloy Fuel Claddings
10:50–11:15AM CDT
Daniel Viands (University of South Carolina), Ian Hopkins (University of South Carolina), Jingjing Bao (University of South Carolina), Jorie Walters (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Xinyu Huang (University of South Carolina)
Fuel Cladding Irradiations in the High Flux Reactor
11:15–11:40AM CDT
Steven Knol (NRG|PALLAS), Viktors Grismanovs (NRG|PALLAS), Tim v. Lunteren (NRG|PALLAS)
To join the conversation, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
