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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.
Hyun Kook Shin, Sang Ku Nam, Se Do Sohn, Hoon Seon Chang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 141 | Number 1 | January 2003 | Pages 33-44
Technical Paper | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technologies | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3347
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The advanced digital reactor protection system (ADRPS) with diverse dual processors has been developed to prevent common-mode failure (CMF). The principle of diversity is applied to both hardware design and software design. For hardware diversity, two different types of CPUs are used for the bistable processor and local coincidence logic (LCL) processor. The Versa Module Eurocard-based single board computers are used for the CPU hardware platforms. The QNX operating system and the VxWorks operating system were selected for software diversity. Functional diversity is also applied to the input and output modules, and to the algorithm in the bistable processors and LCL processors. The characteristics of the newly developed digital protection system are described together with the preventive capability against CMF. Also, system reliability analysis is discussed. The evaluation results show that the ADRPS has a good preventive capability against the CMF and is a highly reliable reactor protection system.
