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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.
Jeffery D. Densmore
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 191 | Number 3 | September 2018 | Pages 231-247
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1466542
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We develop an analytic solution for time-dependent neutron transport with delayed neutrons using the singular eigenfunction expansion method. Our approach is based on a technique for solving time-dependent neutron-transport problems without delayed neutrons (Case and Zweifel, Linear Transport Theory, Addison-Wesley, 1967), which we effectively generalize to include the presence of delayed-neutron precursors. In particular, we obtain eigenfunctions composed of two parts: one corresponding to the neutron angular flux and one corresponding to the delayed-neutron precursor concentration. We further demonstrate that these eigenfunctions are complete. We also provide numerical results for an example problem.