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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.
Hashem M. Hashemian, Wendell C. Bean
Nuclear Technology | Volume 176 | Number 3 | December 2011 | Pages 414-429
Technical Paper | Nuclear Plant Operations and Control | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A13317
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Cable condition monitoring involves a variety of testing or monitoring methods, none without limitations. Mechanical and chemical tests are only local in their effectiveness; they can miss problems in the untested cable. Electrical-cable-condition-monitoring tests - including insulation resistance tests, impedance measurements (such as the LCR test), and reflectometry or "cable radar" methods - make it possible to test entire cable circuits while they remain in operation. Impedance measurements enable the evaluation of cable condition factors such as dielectric absorption ratio, polarization index, quality factor, and dissipation factor. Several new electrical measurement methods, including time or frequency domain reflectometry, and a wireless microsensor technology called AgeAlert™, are showing promise as techniques for in situ monitoring of the nuclear power plant cable condition. The integration of all these methods and their combination with end-device testing methods represent a new application of cable condition monitoring that promises to provide the correlation between aging test results and the aging condition of in situ cables that individual methods by themselves do not provide.