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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.
Jacques Duco, Maria Trotabas
Nuclear Technology | Volume 87 | Number 1 | August 1989 | Pages 104-119
Technical Paper | TMI-2: Materials Behavior / Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A27641
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations Task Group on Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2), the Commissariat ??? I’Energie Atomique examined five samples retrieved from the damaged reactor core: a slightly damaged fuel rod chunk from assembly L1 of the core external row, a rod remnant in position C7 hanging from the assembly head, and three core bore rocks from both the ceramic and agglomerate regions of the damaged core. The analyses include visual observation, immersion density, metallography, wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry, gamma spectroscopy, and neutron activation analysis. The information gained provides assessments of the maximum local temperatures reached during the accident, an insight into a possible fuel degradation mechanism for the rod in position C7, and information on fission product and control or structural material behavior. Such data, involving a small number of samples, will be added to those from other contributing laboratories to obtain an extensive data base, to try to understand the TMI-2 accident, and, presumably, to avoid the recurrence of a core melt on the basis of lessons to be learned.