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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
TopFuel 2025: Nuclear Reactor Fuel Performance Conference
Executive Vice President – Fuel Business Unit
Framatome
Ala F. Alzaben was appointed Executive Vice President, Commercial & Customer Center for the Fuel Business Unit, Framatome, effective January 2017. He is responsible for global commercial operations to include sales, marketing, business development, contracts and services.
Alzaben’s career in the nuclear energy industry spans more than 35 years, gaining extensive experience in nuclear fuel, business development and sales. He joined the company in 2003 as Business Development Manager in the Component Replacement & Repair Unit with focus on the growth of the BWR and CANDU product lines.
Alzaben went on to serve as the Sales and Marketing manager with responsibility for fuel fabrication sales and marketing in North America from 2004 through 2008. In October 2008, he was appointed to the position of North America Vice President for Mining & Front End Sales.
Prior to joining the company, Alzaben spent nine years with General Electric (GE) supporting its Fuel joint venture, Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF), where he served in a wide range of technical and commercial roles.
From 1990 to 1994, Alzaben worked for ABB/Combustion Engineering (C-E) as technical team leader responsible for ensuring the safety and performance of multiple U.S. nuclear plants.
Alzaben is a graduate of North Carolina State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering. He holds an MBA from Averett University.
Last modified September 3, 2025, 8:55am CDT
