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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.
Paul A. Robinson, Jr., George D. Sauter
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 49 | Number 2 | October 1972 | Pages 117-129
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A35500
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inverse Compton scattering, wherein a photon gains energy as a result of a reaction with a moving electron, has been studied as a potential energy loss mechanism in the operation of a controlled thermonuclear reactor (CTR). Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium within a 500-cm-diam plasma at 20 keV we have calculated, for various plasma densities, the influence of inverse Compton scattering on steady-state photon energy leakage via two potential cooling effects: the increased escape probability of the photons generated within the plasma itself, and the negative net energy deposition within the plasma of an incident external photon flux, such as might be generated by the CTR radiation shield through (n,γ) reactions and photon scattering. For currently anticipated CTR plasma densities (1015 ions/cm3), the increase in steady-state photon leakage due to inverse Compton scattering is negligible. For plasma densities of 1019 ions/cm3 or more, the increase is significant (≥10%).
