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2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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.
R. C. Lloyd, C. R. Richey, E. D. Clayton, D. R. Skeen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 25 | Number 2 | June 1966 | Pages 165-173
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE66-A17733
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of criticality experiments were performed with plutonium (4.6% 240Pu) nitrate solution in stainless steel spheres of 11.5-, 14-, and 15.2-in. diam. Reflectors of water, concrete, paraffin, and stainless steel were used; experiments were also performed on the 15.2-in. sphere unreflected. The spheres were made critical with plutonium concentrations varying from 24 to 435 g Pu/liter and molarity varying from 0.2 to 7.7. The minimum critical volumes for Pu(NO3)4 in water containing 4.6% 240Pu were determined to be about 22 and 11 liters, respectively, for bare and reflected spheres at a concentration of 175 g Pu/liter. The effect of a 0.030-in. cadmium shell or a 4-in. air gap between the reflector and the vessel reduced the reflector worth to that of a nominal reflector (1-in. of water or less) for the concentrations of plutonium measured. Comparisons were made between experimental and theoretical results using multigroup diffusion theory.