GSE Solutions presents ANS webinar on using data validation to increase nuclear plant power output

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a Supplier Showcase webinar titled “Advancing DVR for MUR: Lessons from First-of-a-Kind Projects,” featuring Greg Kanuckel, director of thermal performance at GSE Solutions. Kanuckel walked attendees through how data validation and reconciliation (DVR) technology supports measurement uncertainty recapture (MUR) uprates — a process that can allow nuclear power plants to operate closer to their safety analysis limits and, in turn, increase their licensed power output.

ANS webinar features GSE Solutions presentation on nuclear uprates

Before Kanuckel launched into the technical material, Travis Duckro, senior vice president and head of sales at GSE Solutions, gave a quick company overview. GSE was founded in 1971, mostly as a simulation business, and grew considerably from there. Today the company works with nuclear plants worldwide across design engineering, simulations, thermal performance, engineering programs, and balance of plant work — a much broader footprint than its origins suggested.

The webinar focused on DVR methodology and its direct application to MUR uprates, one of the main regulatory pathways for increasing a nuclear plant’s licensed output without major capital modifications. The ANS Supplier Showcase series is built for exactly this kind of exchange: giving vendors a structured venue to present technical advances to the broader nuclear industry.

The first is data validation — “ensuring that the data is reasonably accurate; there’s no obvious problems like zero values,” as Kanuckel put it.

How data validation and reconciliation works

Kanuckel opened his technical presentation with a refresher on what DVR actually involves. Two distinct steps make up the process. The first is data validation — “ensuring that the data is reasonably accurate; there’s no obvious problems like zero values,” as Kanuckel put it. That step catches straightforward errors before anything more sophisticated happens.

The second step, data reconciliation, is where the real analytical work takes place. Kanuckel described it as “the more powerful aspect” of the process — comparing and cross-verifying data across multiple systems, finding contradictions, and resolving them systematically.

The underlying problem DVR addresses is one every nuclear plant operator knows well. Process instrumentation carries inherent measurement error. As Kanuckel explained, “we know that our measurements coming from the process instrumentation at the plant have some amount of error associated with them.” When data doesn’t add up, it’s not immediately clear which instruments are responsible or how the error is distributed across them.

DVR tackles this by quantifying expected error for each instrument or system and assigning each measurement a specific uncertainty value. The end goal is a reconciled, contradiction-free data set that operators and regulators can actually trust. Redundancy plays a central role here. When multiple instruments measure overlapping parameters, DVR uses that excess information to reduce sensitivity to any single input. “If you have an excess amount of information, then you can leverage that excess amount of information,” Kanuckel said. “You can reduce sensitivities for key parameters to any various single input and that process ends up driving down your uncertainty for these major parameters.” The more measurement overlap a plant has, the more DVR can compress overall uncertainty for critical outputs.

DVR’s role in enabling MUR uprates

That uncertainty reduction is precisely what makes DVR useful for MUR uprates. Kanuckel was direct: “The basis for an MUR uprate lies entirely in the existence of that instrument uncertainty” that DVR seeks to reduce.

Here’s how the regulatory mechanism works. A reactor’s core thermal power isn’t directly measured — it’s calculated using data from several instruments, each contributing some degree of uncertainty to the final figure. NRC regulations account for that uncertainty by requiring a plant’s safety analysis limit to sit 2 percent above its operating limit, a buffer that keeps the plant from accidentally approaching unsafe territory due to measurement imprecision.

The opportunity for an uprate opens when an operator can demonstrate that its calculated core thermal power uncertainty is actually below 2 percent. If that case holds up, the operating limit can be raised — moving closer to the safety analysis limit while still keeping the required margin intact. More licensed power output, no new reactor hardware required. Kanuckel was clear that this pathway isn’t theoretical. “This has been the process through which all of the [MUR] uprates have been achieved,” he said. DVR is the tool that makes the uncertainty calculation credible enough to satisfy NRC scrutiny.

Background: GSE Solutions and the nuclear uprate landscape

GSE Solutions’ broader mission gives context for why this work matters to the company. Its primary objective, as outlined during the webinar’s introduction, is to improve reliability, reduce risk, and increase profitability for nuclear plants globally. MUR uprates fit squarely into that goal — a way to extract more value from existing infrastructure without the cost and complexity of major plant modifications.

For nuclear operators weighing options to increase output, MUR uprates via DVR offer a comparatively accessible path. The technical requirements are real and the NRC review process is rigorous, but capital investment is modest compared to other uprate categories.

The key takeaways from the webinar aren’t complicated. DVR works by validating and reconciling plant instrumentation data to produce a cleaner, lower-uncertainty data set, and that reduced uncertainty is the direct mechanism through which MUR uprates get approved under NRC regulations. GSE Solutions, drawing on more than five decades in nuclear simulation and performance, has positioned DVR as a core service for plants looking to maximize licensed capacity. The full webinar is available on the American Nuclear Society YouTube channel for anyone wanting a more detailed technical treatment of the methodology.

Kelly Lippke

Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.