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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Launching into tomorrow: NRIC guides new era of research and deployment
In June 2025, the Department of Energy announced the Reactor Pilot Program, an authorization pathway that allowed reactor developers to partner with the DOE to get first-of-a-kind (FOAK) reactors built and tested. Soon after, the DOE rolled out a complementary Fuel Line Pilot Program, which aimed to fast-track fuel projects. In all, 20 projects were accepted into the new programs.
Johanna Oxstrand, Rachael Hill, Katya Le Blanc (INL)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1472-1477
As the nuclear industry begins to move into the digital age, multiple concerns have been brought up regarding the implications to field workers, such as auxiliary operators and maintenance technicians, transitioning to a modern work process. Multiple research efforts have been focused on just that, however there are several roles at a nuclear plant aside from field workers that must be considered. One of these roles is the procedure writer. Procedure writers participate in a completely manual paper procedure process. Though they might author procedures on a computer, the moment they complete a revision, the process becomes manual and labor-intensive. The majority of bottlenecks associated with a manual, paper process could be resolved by transitioning to a digital process. In contrast to what many seem to believe, procedure writers are not opposed to a digital process transition. This is not to suggest they are without concern, but their overall perspective errs on the side of taking advantage of an opportunity to improve their current process. This can only be done if procedure writers are involved early on in the design and development process. That way, potential concerns can be addressed and feedback regarding functional and design requirements can be incorporated into the design of the tool during the development phase.