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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.
Dan Ilas
Nuclear Technology | Volume 183 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 379-390
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A19426
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Using experimental data published in the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments for the fresh cold core of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor, a comprehensive validation study has been carried out to assess the performance of the SCALE code system for analysis of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor configurations. This paper describes part of the results of that effort. The studies performed included criticality evaluations for the full core and for the annular cores realized during the fuel loading, as well as calculations and comparisons for excess reactivity, shutdown margin, control rod worths, temperature coefficient of reactivity, and reaction rate distributions. Comparisons of the SCALE results with both experimental values and MCNP-calculated values are presented. The comparisons show that the SCALE calculated results, obtained with both multigroup and continuous energy cross sections, are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data and the MCNP predictions.