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2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
Ernestas Narkūnas, Artūras Šmaižys, Povilas Poškas, Audrius Šimonis, Valerij Naumov, Dmitrij Ekaterinichev
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 12 | December 2022 | Pages 1876-1889
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2092367
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents an evaluation of the gamma-radiation shielding capabilities of the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 cask dedicated for the storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania. This cask is of a new design with increased capacity compared to the older CONSTOR RBMK-1500 and CASTOR RBMK-1500 casks and new facility for their interim storage has been installed. “Hot tests” conducted at this new interim storage facility included dose rate measurements of the CONSTOR RBMK-1500/M2 casks that were loaded with particular sets of spent nuclear fuel half-assemblies and transferred to the facility for subsequent interim storage. Having actual data on the spent nuclear fuel half-assemblies that were loaded into a particular cask, gamma dose rate modeling of that CONSTOR RBMK-1500/M2 cask (namely, cask ID 153) was performed. Modeling was performed using the MCNP (based on the stochastic mathematical method) and the VISIPLAN and MicroShield (both based on the deterministic mathematical method) computer codes. The obtained modeling results were compared between the different codes and with the measurement results. The performed analysis revealed that modeled gamma dose rates are in good agreement for all analyzed codes, although agreement with the measurements is to some extent less.
