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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.
Emmanuelle Picard, Jean Noirot, Raymond L. Moss, Helmut Plitz, Karl Richter, Jacques Rouault
Nuclear Technology | Volume 129 | Number 1 | January 2000 | Pages 1-12
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT00-2
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental program focused not only on the study of high-plutonium-content mixed-oxide fuels but also on more advanced "Pu without U" fuel concepts has been launched in the framework of the Consommation Accrue de Plutonium dans les RApides (CAPRA) project. First results of the in-pile and out-of-pile behavior of high-plutonium-content fuels with uranium, such as (U55%,Pu45%)O2, and (U55%,Pu40%,Np5%)O2, and also without uranium, such as (Pu44%,Ce56%)O2, are now available. In particular, the Irradiation à FOrt Pu (IFOP) experiment in the SILOE reactor and the TRAnsmutation and Burning of ActiNides in Triox carrier (TRABANT1) experiments in the High Flux Reactor are presented and the results are analyzed: Up to a burnup of 1.5 at.%, destructive examinations of the IFOP pin have shown that the high-plutonium-content oxide fuel with a large central hole presents the usual global behavior (good pellet integrity, fuel microstructure). The TRABANT1 oxide fuel pin with a 40% Pu and 5% Np content demonstrates that a burnup of 9.5 at.% can be reached without failure by a high-plutonium-content fuel. However, the TRABANT1 pin 1 (oxide pin with 45% Pu), which had run under severe conditions, has failed at ~7 at.% burnup. Destructive examinations of these pins will give more evidence on the causes of the failure. The low-oxygen-to-metal fuel column of (Pu,Ce)O2-x melted, thus confirming the poor conductivity of this fuel.
