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2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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.
Edward A. Hoffman, Weston M. Stacey, Nolan E. Hertel
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 31 | Number 1 | January 1997 | Pages 35-62
Technical Paper | Materials Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A30779
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Results from the present physics, materials, and blanket research and development programs are combined with physics and engineering design constraints to characterize candidate tokamak demonstration plant (DEMO) designs. Blanket designs based on the principal structural materials, breeding materials, and coolants being developed for the DEMO were adapted from the literature. Neutron flux and activation calculations were performed, and several radioactive waste disposal indexes were evaluated for each design. Of the primary low-activation structural materials under development in the United States, it appears that vanadium and ferritic steel alloys and possibly silicon carbide could lead to DEMO designs that could satisfy realistic low-level waste (LLW) criteria, provided that impurities can be controlled within plausible limits. Allowable LLW concentrations are established for the limiting alloying and impurity elements. All breeding materials and neutron multipliers considered meet the ELW criterion.