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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.
Charles Erwin Cohn
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 6 | Number 4 | October 1959 | Pages 284-287
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE59-A28845
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In reactors having D2O or Be moderators, the photoneutrons produced by gamma rays from long-lived fission products give rise to transient effects which could introduce appreciable errors into various types of reactivity measurements. This paper presents digital computer calculations of these effects in D2O for criticality measurements, subcritical multiplication measurements, rod drops, and rising period measurements. It is found that in some cases appreciable errors are possible even after one hour waiting periods. Since the Be photoneutron data cannot be resolved into groups, calculations for Be could not be done. However, the nature of the effects that could be expected is discussed.