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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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
H. Branover, S. Sukorianksy, G. Talmage, E. Greenspan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 822-829
Liquid-Metal Blankets and Magnetohydrodynamic Effects | Proceedings of the Seveth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Reno, Nevada, June 15–19, 1986) | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24840
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Effects of anisotropic turbulence, which can develop in the flow of liquid metal in a transverse magnetic field, on the heat transfer-rate and on self-cooled blanket design and performance are investigated using recent experimental evidence and an approximate analytical model. It is found that the anisotropic turbulence might enhance the heat transfer rate by an order of magnitude without affecting the magnetohydrodynamics pressure drop. The enhanced heat transfer rate opens new interesting possibilities for the design of self-cooled liquid metal blankets, including the possibility of:(l)designing simple yet efficient poloidal-flow blankets, (2) reducing the pressure drop, and (3)increasing the exit coolant temperature and, hence, thermal-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency of conventional blanket concepts. A thorough investigation of the anisotropic turbulent flow phenomena is essential for enabling a realistic assessment of their implications. This investigation ought to include large-scale experiments that enable simulation of realistic fusion reactor conditions.