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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.
Mark D. DeHart, Stephen M. Bowman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 174 | Number 2 | May 2011 | Pages 196-213
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the SCALE Nuclear Analysis Code System / Reactor Physics | doi.org/10.13182/NT174-196
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The TRITON sequence of the SCALE code system provides a powerful, robust, and rigorous approach for performing reactor physics analysis. This paper presents a detailed description of TRITON in terms of its key components used in reactor calculations. The ability to accurately predict the nuclide composition of depleted reactor fuel is important in a wide variety of applications. These applications include, but are not limited to, the design, licensing, and operation of commercial/research reactors and spent-fuel transport/storage systems. New complex design projects such as next-generation power reactors and space reactors require new high-fidelity physics methods, such as those available in SCALE/TRITON, that accurately represent the physics associated with both evolutionary and revolutionary reactor concepts as they depart from traditional and well-understood light water reactor designs.