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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.
Kazuo Takino, Kazuteru Sugino, Kenji Yokoyama (JAEA), Tomoyuki Jin (NESI Inc.), Shigeo Ohki (JAEA)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 1214-1220
Since next-generation fast reactors aim to achieve a higher core discharge burn-up than that of the conventional ones, nuclear design methods need to refine. In this study, we investigated the effect that the analysis conditions exhibit on the accuracy of estimations of the burn-up nuclear characteristics of next-generation fast reactors. Suitable analysis schemes and conditions that maximize the estimation accuracy, while maintaining a low computational cost, were investigated in this study.
We performed core burn-up survey calculations under several analysis conditions. In the survey calculations, we calculated the criticality, burn-up reactivity, control rod worth, breeding ratio, assembly-wise power distribution, maximum linear heat rate, sodium void reactivity, and Doppler coefficient for the equilibrium operation cycles. The accuracy of the low-cost calculations was evaluated by measuring the agreements with the referential detailed conditions.