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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.
Albert Kreuser, Jörg Peschke
Nuclear Technology | Volume 136 | Number 3 | December 2001 | Pages 255-260
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3243
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The quantification of common-cause failures (CCFs) is often connected with uncertainties in how to interpret observed CCF events and with how far they are applicable to the specific group of components in question. A method has been developed that allows consideration of these kinds of uncertainties on the basis of a modification of the Binomial-Failure-Rate model. The quantification of interpretation uncertainties by means of interpretation alternatives is discussed as well as their effects on the estimation of the coupling parameter of the underlying CCF model. The estimation of the coupling parameter under consideration of the aforementioned uncertainties is performed by a Bayesian approach. To facilitate the specification of interpretation uncertainties, a default proposal of the interpretation vector is automatically generated on the basis of component fault states gained by expert judgment. Modification of the default vector is possible depending on engineering judgment of technical or operational differences between the observed and the target group of components.