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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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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
K. C. Liu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 1006-1011
Fusion Materials—Properties and Behavior | Proceedings of the Seveth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Reno, Nevada, June 15–19, 1986) | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24866
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Unirradiated Vanstar-7 alloy was tested in fatigue at room temperature, 550°, and 650°C, respectively, in high vacuum below 10−5 Pa. The test data were analyzed and compared with those of V-15Cr-5Ti and 20% cold-worked type 316 stainless steel tested under the same condition. Results show that the fatigue resistance of Vanstar-7 is in general somewhat lower than that of V-15Cr-5Ti. The low fatigue performance for Vanstar-7 at the elevated temperatures in the high cycle range may be attributable to thermal creep damages because Vanstar-7 is less creep resistant than V-15Cr-5Ti. However, Vanstar-7 exhibits superior fatigue resistance compared with the stainless steel in the low strain range below 0.5% strain.
