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Nuclear Criticality Safety
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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.
C. B. Bigham
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 6 | Number 5 | November 1959 | Pages 379-385
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE59-A25675
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The dependence on neutron temperature of the ratio of thermal neutron fission cross sections, , has been measured in heavy water moderator. Satisfactory agreement was obtained with the temperature dependence of the cross sections for Maxwellian neutron spectra calculated by C. H. Westcott from the neutron cross section energy dependence. Measurements have also been made of the spatial distribution of neutron temperature in a tank of heavy water. At the side of the tank facing the graphite thermal column neutron source, an apparent temperature difference between neutron temperature and D2O temperature (initially 44°C) decreased with a relaxation length of about one inch for points inside the tank.
