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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.
Kenji Arai, Seijiro Suzuki, Mikihide Nakamaru, Hideaki Heki
Nuclear Technology | Volume 143 | Number 1 | July 2003 | Pages 1-10
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3393
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The long operating cycle simplified boiling water reactor is a reactor concept that pursues both safety and the economy by employing a natural circulation reactor core without a refueling, a passive decay heat removal, and an integrated building for the reactor and turbine. Throughout the entire spectrum of the design basis accident, the reactor core is kept covered by the passive emergency core cooling system. The decay heat is removed by the conventional active low-pressure residual heat removal system. As for a postulated severe accident, the suppression pool water floods the lower part of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in the case when core damage occurs, and the in-vessel retention that keeps the melt inside the RPV is achieved by supplying the coolant. The containment adopts a parallel-double-steel-plate structure similar to a hull structure, which contains coolant between the inner and outer walls to absorb the heat transferred from the inside of the containment. Consequently, the containment structure functions as a passive containment cooling system (PCCS) to remove the decay heat in case of an accident. This paper describes the PCCS performance evaluation by using TRAC code to show one of the characteristic plant features. The core damage frequency for internal events was also evaluated to examine the safety level of the plant and to show the adequacy of the safety system design.