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Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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A series of firsts delivers new Plant Vogtle units
Southern Nuclear was first when no one wanted to be.
The nuclear subsidiary of the century-old utility Southern Company, based in Atlanta, Ga., joined a pack of nuclear companies in the early 2000s—during what was then dubbed a “nuclear renaissance”—bullish on plans for new large nuclear facilities and adding thousands of new carbon-free megawatts to the grid.
In 2008, Southern Nuclear applied for a combined construction and operating license (COL), positioning the company to receive the first such license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2012. Also in 2008, Southern became the first U.S. company to sign an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a Generation III+ reactor. Southern chose Westinghouse’s AP1000 pressurized water reactor, which was certified by the NRC in December 2011.
Fast forward a dozen years—which saw dozens of setbacks and hundreds of successes—and Southern Nuclear and its stakeholders celebrated the completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4: the first new commercial nuclear power construction project completed in the U.S. in more than 30 years.
K. H. Beckurts
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 2 | Number 4 | July 1957 | Pages 516-522
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE57-A25417
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The pulse method has been applied to problems of neutron diffusion in graphite. By measuring the decay constant of the neutron flux emanating from various graphite pile geometries, the diffusion coefficient and the absorption cross section can be determined with great precision. In comparison to an exponential experiment, the quantity of graphite necessary for an accurate determination of the diffusion length can be considerably reduced. The finite geometry of the moderator gives rise to a diffusion-cooling effect on the neutron equilibrium temperature which can be understood quantitatively by a direct measurement of the heat transfer from the neutron gas to the lattice. In the second part of the work, the pulse method is used to determine the influence of eccentric control rods on the buckling of a cylindrical reactor model.
