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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.
André Bergeron, Daniel Caruge, Philippe Clément
Nuclear Technology | Volume 134 | Number 1 | April 2001 | Pages 71-83
Technical Paper | NURETH-9 | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3187
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The physical validation compared with the hydraulic and two-phase flow experiments of the thermal-hydraulic FLICA-IV nuclear core computer code, in the case of a pressurized water reactor is presented. This three-dimensional two-phase flow code is devoted to steady state and transient thermal-hydraulic analysis of nuclear reactor cores. The four balance equations used by the code and the closure relationships are first presented. Then, the facilities employed for the code validation are described. They are the ones that use either laser velocimetry techniques in the case of hydraulic validation to measure accurately the flow field around rods or isokinetic sampling to carry out the qualities and the axial mass velocities at the outlet of a rod bundle in the case of two-phase flow validation. Comparisons between experimental and computed values are then presented for the axial flow blockage simulation, inlet assemblies flow mixing, axial flow spacer grid disturbance, and an outlet rod bundle map of qualities and axial mass velocities.