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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Standards Program
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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Latest News
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.
Jung-Kun Lee, Sumin Bae, Sajib A. Dahr
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 4 | April 2024 | Pages 772-780
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2277027
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) technology offers technical benefits such as high temperature operation, virtually no loss of coolant accidents, and operation at atmospheric pressure. Liquid lead is nonreactive with air and water, has a high boiling point, poor neutron absorption, and excellent heat transfer properties. Regardless of substantial advantages, the corrosive nature of liquid lead is a critical challenge in implementing LFR technology. This problem is especially pronounced at higher temperatures (>500°C). These issues have motivated research on materials and sensing capabilities in liquid lead. The University of Pittsburgh has developed a pool-type materials testing facility in international collaboration with universities, national labs, and industry. This new facility is a complement to existing loop-type facilities by being able to confirm corrosion testing results at high temperatures and higher coolant velocities, as well as by providing a large open volume of liquid lead to allow for the versatile testing of sensing instruments. In the design and manufacturing of the new facility, several important factors, such as temperature, oxygen concentration, and fluid velocity, were carefully considered. Successful running of the new testing facility will help industry demonstrate the reliability of structural materials and sensing instruments for LFRs.