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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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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.
Kiyonobu Yamashita, Kazumi Tokuhara, Nozomu Fujimoto
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 126 | Number 1 | May 1997 | Pages 94-100
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A24460
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A concept for a new reactor system is developed where weapons-grade plutonium can be made worthless for weapons use. It is a pebble bed-type high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that uses plutonium burner ball and thorium breeder ball fuels. The residual amount of 239Pu in spent plutonium balls becomes <1% of the initial loading. The power coefficient is made negative by reducing the parasitic neutron absorption reaction rate of l35Xe.