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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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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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 $1 million a day. Therefore, there is a constant need to mitigate the economic impact on plants by reducing the frequency, duration, and risks associated with these outages.2,3
J.K. Garner, C.F. Carson, J.D. Gordon, R.H. Whitley
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 615-618
Blanket Design and Evaluation | Proceedings of the Seveth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Reno, Nevada, June 15–19, 1986) | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24811
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes a concept for a high performance, inherently safe fusion reactor blanket using helium coolant, beryllium multiplier, lithium breeder and a vanadium alloy structure. The goals of the design were to explore the possibility of inherent tolerance to loss of coolant and flow accidents while minimizing the cost of electricity. Results indicate high net thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency (45.5%), good energy multiplication (1.64) and excellent afterheat tolerance, with a maximum blanket temperature of 760°C after one year with no cooling. However, the calculated COE (0.0405$/kWe.h) is slightly higher than other blankets costed on a similar basis by the MINIMARS1 program because of the projected high cost of vanadium.
