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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.
D. Yuan, P. Guss, T. Ashenfelter
Nuclear Technology | Volume 177 | Number 2 | February 2012 | Pages 273-284
Technical Paper | Radiation Measurements and General Instrumentation | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A13371
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Past studies of wavelet technologies for gamma spectral analysis essentially focused on direct fitting of raw gamma spectra, but these studies often failed to produce new benefits for operational adaptation of wavelet analysis. This paper presents a modified wavelet approach with the objective being detecting only the nuclides that do not exist in the environmental background. With this operational objective, wavelet analysis is applied to the background-subtracted count-rate spectra. A preliminary comparison study suggests that this background subtraction - wavelet-fitting process - is independent of the detector type and background radiation and is capable of improving the wavelet peak detection probabilities as compared with earlier published results.