ILTA Terminal Operating Practices Symposium (TOPS)

The program spans project execution, nuclear energy, and grids, AI, and infrastructure. Sessions address financing and delivering the U.S. energy buildout; grid capacity, interconnection, transmission, reliability, and cost allocation; and the effects of data-center and industrial demand on power planning. Nuclear topics include power for data centers, first-of-a-kind project cost and delivery, nuclear finance, HALEU and fuel supply, utility choices among large reactors, SMRs, and microreactors, and pathways to SMR deployment. Other sessions cover LNG security, trade, and investment; energy storage and grid-edge technologies; AI in energy operations; and project bankability, permitting, policy, supply-chain, and delivery risks. The program also includes executive roundtables, a project-execution clinic, and an energy startup pitch competition.

The technical program covers pipeline integrity management, in-line inspection (ILI), engineering assessments, geohazards, crack and dent assessment, seam-weld threats, repairs, and hydrogen transportation. Plenary topics include operator guidelines and specifications, technical knowledge management, assessing existing pipelines for hydrogen service, selective seam-weld corrosion, and PHMSA MAOP reconfirmation requirements. Parallel technical tracks address landslide monitoring and pipeline strain; crack characterization and management; ILI applications, analysis, and verification; hard spots; dent assessment; engineering assessment; hydrogen transportation; integrity management; difficult-to-inspect pipelines; materials verification; and repair technologies. Presentations include work on ILI run comparisons, risk-informed assessment choices under the PHMSA Gas Mega Rule, dent engineering critical assessment, non-intrusive pipeline assessment, material testing, and repair qualification. A panel addresses PHMSA repair criteria for hazardous-liquid and gas-transmission pipelines.

The conference theme is “Pipeline to Possibilities: Securing Energy, Shaping Futures.” Stakeholder Engagement & Outreach covers community and public engagement, API Recommended Practices 1162 and 1185, environmental justice, Tribal and First Nation considerations, emergency responder education, and damage prevention. Pipeline Operational Excellence addresses safety performance, in-line inspection lessons, pipeline safety management systems, safety culture, management of change, asset remediation, and operational and enterprise risk management. Technology, AI & Innovation includes inspection tools, engineering practices, control room technologies, artificial intelligence, API RP 1165, and emerging fuels. Workforce Training & Development covers succession planning, knowledge transfer, recruitment and retention, multigenerational workforces, operator qualification, inspector certification, and competency-based learning. Sustainability & New Fuels addresses CO2, hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels; safety, integrity, leak detection, corrosion management, emergency preparedness, methane emissions, and environmental stewardship. Other tracks address pipeline construction, project management, commissioning, major maintenance, contract management and trenchless technologies; leak detection systems and predictive analytics; SCADA/OT modernization, industrial control system cybersecurity, threat response and regulatory compliance; and alarm and control room management, including fatigue mitigation, controller training, management of change, records, and regulatory interpretations.

The November 10 workshop begins work on revising API Standard 1163, ILI Systems Qualification, from its 3rd edition toward a 4th edition, gathering initial input from industry subject-matter experts. The November 11 PIX forum focuses on pipeline operators sharing information and lessons learned from pipeline incidents, near misses, industry practices, and improvements to pipeline safety programs. Agenda topics include API data tools for pipeline operating companies; offshore pipeline operations; H2S sour-service management; dynamic pressure-wave methods for locating pipeline obstructions; personnel and excavation safety; hot-work mitigation; integrity management, waterway crossings, crack penetrators, leak-volume estimation, valve failures, and pipeline repairs; workforce development through internships and co-op programs; AI applications in integrity management; and public engagement and damage prevention. The PIX day is for pipeline operating company representatives; the separate workshop is open to interested participants.

Topics include electrical safety and high-risk work environments; serious-incident reviews and lessons learned; human performance and error reduction; contractor safety; confined-space, work-at-height, and rescue practices; and emergency response, thermal runaway, and fire preparedness for battery energy storage systems. Operations and asset-performance topics include predictive maintenance, reliability optimization, advanced analytics, major-component reliability for gearboxes, blades, inverters, and BESS, aging fleets, asset-life extension, hybrid wind, solar, and storage operations, and operational readiness and commissioning. Workforce themes include fatigue management, technician readiness, apprenticeships, cross-training, frontline leadership, knowledge transfer, and succession planning. The PowerCast Stage features practical presentations on operational experiences, demonstrations, emerging technologies, and best practices.

An in-person safety forum for EHS professionals across the oil and gas industry. Topics include converging forces in high-hazard, high-turnover industries; the gap between falling injury rates and rising fatal risk; the CLEARLY WORTHY framework for assessing critical risk and building safety culture; six lenses for identifying exposures that could kill or permanently harm; cognitive bias in individual, organizational, and leadership safety decisions; and designing safety systems for every brain, including neurodivergent workers. The program also addresses practical takeaways attendees can begin applying immediately. Wilkes University is providing 3 PDHs and .3 CEUs.

Presented by the Center for Hydrogen Safety, the conference addresses practical hydrogen safety challenges, regulations, codes and standards, and applied safety practices. Themes include process safety; quantitative risk analysis; explosions and hazards; materials integrity; hydrogen production and electrolysis; storage; transport and pipelines; fueling and mobility; incidents and lessons learned; public safety; emerging technology; and digital tools. Program topics include updates to CGA G-5.5 for hydrogen vent systems; compressed-hydrogen leak-rate requirements and testing practices; OSHA PSM and EPA RMP applicability and exemptions; hydrogen safety education; ultrasonic gas-leak detection; full-scale liquid-hydrogen tank failure testing; and detonation transmission in hydrogen-air mixtures. Other sessions address safer control architectures for hydrogen production, safety planning for large-scale projects and hydrogen hubs, abnormal-operation decision-making, loss-of-primary-containment indicators, green-hydrogen deployment at a public utility, risk assessment across H2–NH3–H2 supply chains, HyRAM+ modeling, operational data, vehicle-labeling standards, and hydrogen locomotive development.

Joint meeting of the 15th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control & Human-Machine Interface Technologies and the 9th International Symposium on Future I&C for Nuclear Power Plants. Organized by the Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls Divisions of the American Nuclear Society and the Korean Nuclear Society, it brings together industry leaders, academic researchers, and regulatory experts to explore the state of technology and future directions in nuclear I&C and human factors engineering. The technical program is planned to include peer-reviewed podium presentations, technical panels, and student paper competitions, with accepted papers published in the conference proceedings. Paper areas include advanced sensor technology; online monitoring, diagnostics, and prognostics; autonomous reactor control and operation; cybersecurity in nuclear reactors, I&C, and wireless technologies; digital twins; I&C for advanced reactors, small modular reactors, and integrated energy systems; I&C system reliability; machine learning and artificial intelligence; remote operation, monitoring, and maintenance; robotics; structural health monitoring; large language models in nuclear energy; and verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification. Human-factors areas include design and analysis methods; computerized procedures and digital instructions; human-factors considerations for AI, autonomy, balance of plant, control-room modernization, remote operations, verification and validation, advanced visualization, cybersecurity, and novel concepts of operations; operator studies; human-automation interaction; human performance evaluation; human reliability analysis; interface and alarm design; operating experience; staffing and qualification; task analysis; and workstation design. These are suggested paper topics rather than final session titles.

The program spans chemical engineering, process industries, and process safety. Spring Meeting topics include process intensification; automation, data analytics, and machine learning in Industry 4.0; ethylene production; gas processing, conversion, and utilization; refinery operations; distillation; petrochemical processing; and energy-transition technologies, policies, and industry strategies. The AI and Energy Nexus and Chemical Engineering & the Law are also listed as program areas. Process-safety programming includes the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) International Conference, the Process Plant Safety Symposium (PPSS), the Annual Loss Prevention Symposium (LPS), the Process Safety Management Mentoring (PSM2) Symposium, and a Process Safety Topical Conference. Listed subjects include process-safety management practices, plant-level methods and tools, explosion prevention, fire protection, lessons from incident investigations, hydrogen production, storage and use, and process-safety issues affecting regions around the world.

The technical program covers the lifecycle of offshore energy projects, from exploration and development through production, maintenance, and decommissioning. Topics span offshore oil and gas, offshore wind, carbon management, hydrogen, marine resources, and technologies for operational efficiency, safety, reliability, and performance, including advanced materials, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. Program elements include the Opening General Session on energy demand, market dynamics, policy and regulation, offshore innovation, collaboration, and sustainability; panel and technical sessions; keynote presentations; the University R&D Showcase; and the Presentation Hub and Around the World Series. Executive Dialogues use a limited-participation, peer-to-peer format and address emerging technologies, policy and regulation, capital investment, market outlooks, energy transition strategies, workforce development, and energy demand and security. The Energy Evolution Exchange Pavilion features carbon capture and storage, offshore wind, hydrogen, marine resources, low-carbon solutions, and energy efficiency. URTeC is co-located with OTC, with distinct technical programs focused on offshore and unconventional resource development.