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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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
George E. Orient, Nasr M. Ghoniem
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 1617-1622
Solid Breeder Blanket | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24963
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Mechanical interaction between the solid breeder material and its cladding during power cycles is an important consideration in the design of solid breeder blankets. The analysis presented in the paper gives a design tool for material choices and lifetime prediction for breeder pins. The UCLA solid breeder blanket design is evaluated, and operating conditions are suggested. The material model for the pellet includes linear thermoelastic behavior and swelling. The cladding is assumed to be thin and to exhibit swelling and creep. Two alternate breeder/cladding material pairs have been analyzed, a Li2O/2.25Cr-1Mo and a LiAlO2/9-C design. While high swelling excludes the Li2O/2.25Cr-1Mo design, it is found that in the LiAlO2/9-C case compatibility of thermal expansion between the breeder and the cladding as well as low swelling of the breeder result in less than 0.5% total plastic strain after one year of operation.
