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Conference Spotlight
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
Peretz Levin, Nasr M. Ghoniem
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 1634-1639
Solid Breeder Blanket | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24966
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this paper, a pressurized lobular blanket configuration is neutronically optimized. The blanket configuration features the use of beryllium and LiAlO2 solid breeder pins in a helium-cooled cross-flow pattern. One-dimensional neutronic optimization calculations are performed to maximize the tritium breeding ratio (TBR). The procedure involves spatial allocations of Be, LiAlO2, 9-C (low-activation ferritic steel), and He, in such a way as to maximize the TBR subject to several material, engineering and geometrical constraints. Consistent with all imposed engineering constraints, a TBR of 1.17 is achieved for a relatively thin blanket (≃43 cm depth).
