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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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
Michael T. Tobin, Wayne R. Meier, Edward C. Morse
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 679-685
Inertial Confinement Fusion Driver Technology | Proceedings of the Seveth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Reno, Nevada, June 15–19, 1986) | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24821
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have carried out further investigations of technical issues associated with using a compact torus (CT) accelerator as a driver for inertial confinement fusion (ICF). In a CT accelerator, a magnetically-confined, torus-shaped plasma is compressed, accelerated and focused by two concentric electrodes. Here, we evaluate an accelerator point design with a capacitor bank energy of 9.2 MJ. Modeled by a O–D code, the system produces a xenon plasma ring with a radius of 0.73 cm, a velocity of 4×107m/s, and a mass of 4.4 µg. The plasma ring energy available for fusion is 3.8 MJ, a 40% driver efficiency. Ablation and magnetic pressures of the point design, due to CT acceleration, are analyzed. Pulsed-power switching limitations and driver cost analysis are also presented. Our studies confirm the feasibility of producing a ring to induce fusion with acceptable gain. However, some uncertainties must be resolved to establish viability.
