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2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Modernizing I&C for operations and maintenance, one phase at a time
The two reactors at Dominion Energy’s Surry plant are among the oldest in the U.S. nuclear fleet. Yet when the plant celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023, staff could raise a toast to the future. Surry was one of the first plants to file a subsequent license renewal (SLR) application, and in May 2021, it became official: the plant was licensed to operate for a full 80 years, extending its reactors’ lifespans into 2052 and 2053.
Karen Dawn Colins
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 4 | April 2023 | Pages 582-594
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2131953
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
From the published results of experiments investigating the effects of delayed hydride cracking (DHC) on spent fuel Zircaloy cladding integrity, relevant data have been extracted and re-analyzed, taking advantage of inferential statistics and an information-theoretic model selection criterion. Statistical tolerance intervals, the method of maximum likelihood estimation, and the Akaike information criterion, corrected for small sample size, were applied to a small sample of measured values of the threshold stress-intensity factor . The purpose was to create a well-grounded probability density function for use in a mathematical model correlating random variates of with important conditions for the initiation of crack growth by DHC, specifically, cladding hoop stress and the depth and shape of surface flaws. A selection criterion purposely designed for small sample sizes and the robust nature of inferential statistics were ideally suited for the intended reevaluation. The fidelity of the mathematical model was protected by the exclusion of any simplifying approximations, e.g., substitution of constants or single-valued descriptive statistics for variables. The probabilistic effect of the random variable was thereby precisely mapped onto the linearly correlated variable, threshold cladding hoop stress, as a function of surface flaw depth and shape. Contour plots of the results constitute significant improvements over previous quantitative single-point estimates of the effects of DHC on spent fuel Zircaloy cladding integrity.