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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Educational Session|Panel|Plant Reliability
Tuesday, August 9, 2022|10:30AM–12:00PM EDT|Banyan 2
Session Chair:
Tim Schlimpert (MCR)
Track Organizer:
Emmett Wilmes (MPR)
Knowledge Manager:
Ashley Bridgmon (Southern Co.)
With higher labor costs compared to other generation fuel sources, Nuclear Plants are highly incented to maintain reliability during operating cycles, making the most of every hour generating electricity. Over time, the industry has realized reliability today is driven by investment decisions made years in the past through long range planning. Aging and obsolescence issues may take decades to develop into current threats to reliability. If there were no limitations on funding, human resources, or capacity factors, maintaining reliability would not be such a challenge. However, having limitations in all these areas, licensees are forced to make sound investment decisions many fuel cycles into the future. The importance of these decisions is even more relevant when Subsequent License Renewals are at stake. This session will present approaches to optimize future capital investment including the extended horizons of Subsequent License Renewals. The panel will discuss the challenges of “complete discovery” and the value of portfolio optimization.
John Crawford
TVA
Garrett Sizer
CLT
Matt Chouinard
Constellation
Eric Michael
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