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Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
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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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Article considers incorporation of AI into nuclear power plant operations
The potential application of artificial intelligence to the operation of nuclear power plants is explored in an article published in late December in the Washington Examiner. The article, written by energy and environment reporter Callie Patteson, presents the views of a number of experts, including Yavuz Arik, a strategic energy consultant.
Takanori Kameyama, Tetsuo Matsumura, Motoyasu Kinoshita
Nuclear Technology | Volume 106 | Number 3 | June 1994 | Pages 334-341
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34963
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The peripheral region of a high burnup light water reactor (LWR) fuel pellet shows a microstructure that is different from the as-fabricated microstructure. The region where the microstructure change occurs (the rim region) is highly porous, and the original grains in the rim region are divided into much smaller subgrains. The electron probe microanalysis data of high burnup fuels indicate fission gas depletion in the rim region as well as in the central region. The burnup in the rim region is enhanced by built-up plutonium derived from a 238U self-shielding effect, which is called a rim effect. The rim effect accelerates microstructure change in the peripheral region. We developed a detailed burnup analysis code ANRB computing the rim effect in LWR fuels. We have verified the ANRB code performance with the data of the High Burnup Effects Program. The analysis shows that the microstructure change occurs where local burnup gets to the threshold burnup of 70 to 80 MWd/kg U in both pressurized water reactor and boiling water reactor types of fuels. The threshold burnup never changes with the plutonium/uranium burnup ratio or fission rate during the irradiation. The storage of radiation damage is expected to cause the microstructure change.