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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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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|1:00–2:40PM CDT|Salon B
Session Chair:
Patrick Raynaud
Co-Chair:
Phil Sharpe
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A Thorium Molten Salt Reactor That Only Needs Refueling with Fertile Fuel
1:00–1:25PM CDT
Lorenzo Chierici (Copenhagen Atomics), Aslak Stubsgaard (Copenhagen Atomics), Thomas J. Pedersen (Copenhagen Atomics)
Paper
Pin-Type Fluoride Salt-Cooled Reactor Assembly Optimization with Neutronics and Fuel Performance Considerations
1:25–1:50PM CDT
Viktoriia Hozhyk (Univ. Cambridge), Alejandra De Lara (Univ. Cambridge), Eugene Shwageraus (Univ. Cambridge)
Investigation of Burn-up Dependent Thermo-mechanical Behavior of Heat-Pipe Cooled Microreactors
1:50–2:15PM CDT
Chiara Genoni (Texas A&M), Carlo Fiorina (Texas A&M), Fausto Franceschini (Westinghouse Mangiatrotti), Vefa N. Kucukboyaci (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Alessandro Scolaro (EPFL)
Economic Potential of High Surface-to-Volume Fuels in Small Integral Pressurized Water Reactors
2:15–2:40PM CDT
Assil Halimi (MIT), Koroush Shirvan (MIT)
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