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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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AI at work: Southern Nuclear’s adoption of Copilot agents drives fleet forward
Southern Nuclear is leading the charge in artificial intelligence integration, with employee-developed applications driving efficiencies in maintenance, operations, safety, and performance.
The tools span all roles within the company, with thousands of documented uses throughout the fleet, including improved maintenance efficiency, risk awareness in maintenance activities, and better-informed decision-making. The data-intensive process of preparing for and executing maintenance operations is streamlined by leveraging AI to put the right information at the fingertips for maintenance leaders, planners, schedulers, engineers, and technicians.
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.
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Session Notes
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