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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.
Brian S. Triplett, Eric P. Loewen, Brett J. Dooies
Nuclear Technology | Volume 178 | Number 2 | May 2012 | Pages 186-200
Technical Paper | Small Modular Reactors / Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT178-186
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Power Reactor Innovative Small Module (PRISM) designed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is a small, modular, sodium-cooled fast reactor. The PRISM core is located in a pool-type containment vessel and is fueled with metallic fuel. Each PRISM produces 311 MW of electricity. The PRISM is inherently safe due to its negative power reactivity feedback, large in-vessel coolant inventory, passive heat removal systems, below-grade siting, and atmospheric reactor vessel operating pressure. In NUREG-1368, "Preapplication Safety Evaluation Report for the Power Reactor Innovative Small Module (PRISM) Liquid-Metal Reactor," the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission stated that "On the basis of the review performed, the staff, with the ACRS [Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards] in agreement, concludes that no obvious impediments to licensing the PRISM design have been identified." PRISM is able to fission electrometallurgically recycled used nuclear fuel (UNF) from light water reactors as well as weapons-grade materials. PRISM, with the associated Nuclear Fuel Recycling Center, represents a safe, diversion resistant, commercially viable technology for recycling UNF with a small modular reactor.