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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Nuclear Technology
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
T. Kawabe, S. Hirayama, Y. Kozaki, K. Yoshikawa, N. Asami, Y. Fukai, K. Hattori, H. Hojo, T. Honda, H. Ida, T. Kitajima, S. Koda, K. Komatsu, R. Kumazawa, F. Matsuoka, T. Miyasugi, N. Morino, H. Nakashima, H. Nakata, S. Sato, Y. Uede, T. Watanabe, M. Yamada, Y. Yamamoto, H. Yamato
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 1102-1110
Nuclear Technology Experiments and Facilities | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24880
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Conceptual design study of 14-MeV neutron source (FEF) of compact DT plasma based on the mirror confinement has been carried out to clarify the critical issues both in plasma physics and engineering. Characteristic feature of FEF-II are (i) use of RF pondermotive force for MHD stability, (ii) use of water for radiation shield of SC coil and (iii) use of end electrode system including plasma direct energy conversion. Several sets of plasma parameters are obtained under the variety of conditions from the most pessimistic case where the charge exchange (CX) loss of ions is dominant to the most optimistic case where the CX loss is negligible. The engineering feasibility has been studied for the pessimistic case. It was found that most of the engineering are feasible in the optimistic case, and that even in the pessimistic case by increasing plasma parameters there is possibility to meet engineering requirement.
