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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.
Kevin Hesketh, Marc Delpech, Enrico Sartori
Nuclear Technology | Volume 131 | Number 3 | September 2000 | Pages 385-394
Technical Note | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT00-A3124
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In 1993, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency first convened the Working Group on the Physics of Plutonium Recycle (WPPR) (now renamed the Working Party on the Physics of Plutonium Fuels and Innovative Fuel Cycles). Since its inception, the WPPR (whose task has now been expanded to include innovative fuel cycles) has published six volumes of detailed results from analyses of plutonium fuel in pressurized water reactors and fast reactors. A seventh volume on the physics of plutonium fuel in boiling water reactors is in preparation. The analyses have been mostly in the form of theoretical benchmark exercises for situations beyond current experience, for which multinational contributions provide a basis for comparison of diverse calculational methods and nuclear data libraries. The overall activities of the WPPR are reviewed and summarized.