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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.
Takanari Ogata, Takeshi Yokoo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 128 | Number 1 | October 1999 | Pages 113-123
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A3018
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An irradiation behavior analysis code for metallic fast reactor fuel, ALFUS, has been revised so that it can be applied to stress-strain analysis of U-Pu-Zr ternary fuel pins. The stress-strain calculation in ALFUS is closely coupled with models for slug deformation mechanisms, such as swelling due to accumulation of fission gas bubbles and nongaseous fission products. These models include the key parameters: threshold gas swelling for open pore formation, compressibility of the open pores, and accumulation rate of nongaseous fission products. The parameter values have been determined based on theoretical or experimental considerations. An empirical model has also been introduced into ALFUS to treat the effect of the large radial cracking that is a characteristic phenomenon in the ternary fuel slug. The irradiation behaviors of the ternary fuel pins of various design specifications have been analyzed using ALFUS. The analytical results are in fair agreement with the measured data for fission gas release, slug axial elongation, and cladding deformation. The calculated histories of swelling components can reasonably explain the dependency of measured cladding strain data on burnup and initial fuel smear density. One may conclude that ALFUS is valid for irradiation behavior analysis of the metallic fuel pin and is applicable to a wide range of fuel pin specifications. The methodology developed for ALFUS can be a basis for the design procedure for the metallic fuel pin.