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Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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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Education and training to support Canadian nuclear workforce development
Along with several other nations, Canada has committed to net-zero emissions by 2050. Part of this plan is tripling nuclear generating capacity. As of 2025, the country has four operating nuclear generating stations with a total of 17 reactors, 16 of which are in the province of Ontario. The Independent Electricity System Operator has recommended that an additional 17,800 MWe of nuclear power be added to Ontario’s grid.
Konor Frick, J. Michael Doster (NCSU), Shannon M. Bragg-Sitton (INL)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 421-430
Various methods of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) can be coupled to nuclear (or renewable) power sources to help absorb grid variability caused by daily load demand changes and renewable intermittency. Our previous research has shown that coupling a sensible heat TES system to a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) allows the reactor to run at effectively nominal full power during periods of variable electric demand by bypassing steam to the TES system during periods of excess capacity. In this paper we demonstrate that this stored thermal energy can be recovered; allowing the TES system to act as a peaking unit during periods of high electric demand, or used to produce steam for ancillary applications such as desalination. For both applications the reactor can operate continuously at approximately 100% power.