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August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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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.
Hsing Chien Yeh, William E. Kastenberg, Walter J. Karplus
Nuclear Technology | Volume 84 | Number 1 | January 1989 | Pages 23-32
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34193
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new approach for high-speed simulation is applied to the analysis of nuclear power system dynamics. The proposed approach is to first identify inherent parallelism and then to develop suitable parallel computation algorithms. The latter includes numerical integration and table lookup techniques that can be used for achieving high-speed simulation. A performance evaluation of the proposed methodology has been completed, which is based on benchmark simulation for pressurized water reactor plant dynamics. The multirate integration algorithm and an innovative table lookup technique running on a parallel processing computer system have proved to be the most advantageous in computational speed. Moreover, by using the proposed approach, faster than real-time dynamic simulation of nuclear power plant transients can be achieved.