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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.
Pascal Lemaitre, Emmanuel Porcheron, Amandine Nuboer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 175 | Number 3 | September 2011 | Pages 553-571
Technical Paper | NURETH-13 Special / Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A12506
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During the course of a hypothetical severe accident in a nuclear power plant, spray may be activated in order to reduce static pressure in the containment. The Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) has developed the TOSQAN experiment to provide a better understanding of the heat transfer and mass transfer that take place between a spray and the surrounding confined gas in such a situation. This paper studies how the temperature of the spray at the injection point influences the dynamics of a test. To carry out this analysis, we performed two spray tests: spray test 101 (ST101), which served as a reference, and spray test 107 (ST107), which had exactly the same initial and boundary conditions except for the temperature of the spray at the injection point, which varied from 25°C to 58°C. First, we present the entire scenario for ST101 and ST107 and the results of the tests. We then focus our analysis on the intercomparison of the thermal-hydraulic behavior induced by the spray temperature at the injection point and the wall temperature. This intercomparison is divided into two parts: global and local.