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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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Christmas Night
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the houseNo electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged in by the chimney with careWith the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
C. Wallace, G. West, P. Zacharis, G. Dobie, A. Gachagan (Univ of Strathclyde)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 947-956
Ultrasonic inspections are undertaken on a routine basis during outages of CANDU reactors. Expert interpretation of the data generated during these inspections is used to confirm the integrity of zirconium alloy pressure tubes which house fuel bundles. The inspections form an essential component of the outage programme for CANDU reactors and as such are part of the critical outage path. Analysis of the large volume of data generated is undertaken by a small team of engineers who apply expert knowledge and interpretation through a robust review process that involves multiple human experts reviewing datasets before a consolidated view is determined. Recent work on automated defect detection and analysis on historical ultrasonic data has demonstrated the viability of a decision support tool which can aid the existing analysis process. Testing of the prototype system with engineers and domain experts has enabled improvement in accuracy and capabilities while highlighting tasks within existing procedures where explicit descriptions of all scenarios cannot feasibly be specified and where therefore human judgement plays a more important role. Development of the software, as a support tool to enable more rapid analysis of typical defects, is intended to enable increases in the time available for experts to consider more complex defects. This paper discusses the development of the software prototype, potential deployment routes for the prototype system, considering the interactions with the existing process, benefits which may be realised and limitations that may be addressed through the use of data-driven analysis techniques.