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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Standards Program
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.
MANSON BENEDICT, RAYMOND T. SHANSTROM, STANLEY L. AMBERG, N. BARRIE MCLEOD, PAUL T. STERANKA
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 11 | Number 4 | December 1961 | Pages 386-396
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A26040
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Examples are given of the application of computer code FUELCYC to fuel cycle analysis of pressurized water, organic moderated, and heavy water reactors. Properties of these reactors evaluated include the flux energy spectrum, changes in fuel composition and effective cross sections on irradiation, and changes in power density distribution. The effects of different initial fuel enrichments and six different fuel and poison management procedures on the average burnup of fuel, its maximum burnup, the peak-to-average power density ratio and fuel cycle costs are investigated. Fuel cycle costs may be reduced by having good neutron economy, high burnup, and a steady fueling procedure in which neutrons are not wasted in control poison. Of the fueling methods examined, out-in fueling, or some discontinuous approximation to it, seems best because of its flat power-density distribution and relatively low fuel cycle cost. Where mechanically feasible, bidirectional axial fueling is also advantageous because of the uniform fuel burnup it makes possible and its low fuel cycle cost.