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Remembering Joseph M. Hendrie
Joseph M. Hendrie
To those of us who knew Joe, even prior to his appointment as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it is an understatement to say that he was a larger-than-life member of the nuclear science and technology enterprise. He was best known to the broader community for two major accomplishments: the design and construction of the High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the creation of the standard review plan (SRP) for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
In addition to the products of these endeavors becoming major fundaments to their respective communities, they were uniquely Joe. The safety analysis report for the HFBR was written essentially single-handedly by him. This was true of the SRP as well, which became the key safety review document for the NRC as it performed safety reviews for the growing number of power reactor applications in the United States. His deep technical knowledge of nuclear engineering and his extraordinary management skills made this possible.
L. C. Cadwallader
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 995-1002
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Tritium, Safety, and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A818
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Worker Exposure Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (WE-FMEA) is a new approach to quantitatively evaluate worker risks from possible failures of co-located equipment in the complex environment of a magnetic or inertial fusion experiment. For next-step experiments such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) or the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the systems and equipment will be larger, handle more throughput or power, and will, in general, be more robust than past experiments. These systems and equipment are necessary to operate the machine, but the rooms are congested with equipment, piping, and cables, which poses a new level of hazard for workers who will perform hands-on maintenance. The WE-FMEA systematically analyzes the nearby equipment and the work environment for equipment failure or inherent hazards, and then develops exposure scenarios. Once identified, the exposure scenarios are evaluated for the worker hazards and quantitative worker risk is calculated. Then risk scenarios are quantitatively compared to existing statistical data on worker injuries; high-risk scenarios can be identified and addressed in more detail to determine the proper means to reduce, mitigate, or protect against the hazard. The WE-FMEA approach is described and a cooling system maintenance example is given.