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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.
Ross C. Anderson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 95 | Number 2 | August 1991 | Pages 247-250
Technical Note | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34560
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Improvements in thermal margin analyses have, in recent years, been dominated by the use of statistical methods to combine the correlation uncertainty with other key uncertainties such as those in temperature, power, or the radial power factor. The methods of combination have included both root-sum-square and Monte Carlo. The latter method provides insight into the probability density function of the composite departure from nucleate boiling ratio, which, for a measured-to-predicted-normal correlation uncertainty and commonly used parameter uncertainties, proves to be skewed slightly upward from normal. In such a case, the assumption of normality is a conservative assumption in licensing analyses.