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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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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Latest News
AI at work: Southern Nuclear’s adoption of Copilot agents drives fleet forward
Southern Nuclear is leading the charge in artificial intelligence integration, with employee-developed applications driving efficiencies in maintenance, operations, safety, and performance.
The tools span all roles within the company, with thousands of documented uses throughout the fleet, including improved maintenance efficiency, risk awareness in maintenance activities, and better-informed decision-making. The data-intensive process of preparing for and executing maintenance operations is streamlined by leveraging AI to put the right information at the fingertips for maintenance leaders, planners, schedulers, engineers, and technicians.
C. B. Yeamans, D. L. Bleuel
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 2 | August 2017 | Pages 120-128
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1320499
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In need of a spatially resolved neutronic measurement to better understand the implosion physics of inertial-confined fusion, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) developed a distributed Flange-mounted Neutron Activation Diagnostic system (FNAD). FNAD measures primary deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion neutron fluence at 20 points surrounding the target chamber using the 90Zr(n,2n)89Zr reaction, utilizing the 12.1-MeV reaction threshold to minimize signal from spurious neutron sources. Through careful design of the measurement systematics, the relative ratios of fluence at those 20 points are measured to within 2%. This precision is sufficient to allow interpretation of the resulting neutron sky as a map of scattering mass areal density (ρR) of the cold compressed D-T fuel surrounding the nuclear burn. Controlling the shape of this fuel during assembly is essential to achieving optimal implosion performance. This paper details the system design and locational deployment, measurement techniques, and calibration procedure. It also outlines data analysis and reduction, and data presentation methods used during the National Ignition Campaign and High-Foot Campaign.