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The human factor in licensing and operating the next generation of nuclear plants
As human factors specialists working at the intersection of human performance and nuclear operations, we are witnessing one of the nuclear sector’s most significant transitions in decades. The emergence of small modular reactors, microreactors, and other advanced designs is reshaping the industry’s landscape. Digital instrumentation and controls, passive safety systems, and increased automation are creating opportunities for greater safety margins and more flexible operation. These same features also fundamentally redefine what it means to “operate” a nuclear plant. Interactions among human roles, automation, and passive systems shape how people maintain awareness, exercise judgment, and intervene when necessary. These developments affect both operational realities and the regulatory foundations on which nuclear safety is built.
Michael Corradini has been a member of the American Nuclear Society for over 35 years. He is a member of the Thermal Hydraulics Division and the Nuclear Installations Safety Division. He is also an ANS Fellow.
He is currently a distinguished professor of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director of the Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI). He served from 1995 to 2001 as Associate Dean for the College of Engineering and as Chair of Engineering Physics from 2001-2011.
Corradini is widely published in areas related to vapor explosion phenomena, jet spray dynamics, and transport phenomena in multiphase systems.
In 1998, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was also served as a presidential appointee as the Chairman of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board in 2002 and 2003. From 2004-2008, he served as a board member of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) National Accreditation Board for Nuclear Training. In 2006, he was appointed to the NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards and was elected to the National Council on Radiation Protection. Most recently, he was appointed Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the French Atomic Energy Agency.
He received a BS Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University, Milwaukee WI, a MS Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and earned a PhD in Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1978-81 he served as a member of technical staff of Sandia National Laboratories.
Read Nuclear News from July 2012 for more on Michael.
