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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.
Nasir M. Mirza, Sikander M. Mirza, N. Ahmad
Nuclear Technology | Volume 96 | Number 3 | December 1991 | Pages 237-247
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34586
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A computer code using the multigroup diffusion theory based LEOPARD and ODMUG programs has been developed to calculate the activity in the coolant leaving the core of a pool-type research reactor. Using this code, the dose rates at various locations along the coolant path with varying coolant flow rate and reactor power perturbations are determined. A flow rate decrease from 1000 to 145 m3/h is considered. The results indicate that a flow rate decrease leads to an increase in the coolant outlet temperature, which affects the neutron group constants and hence the group fluxes. The activity in the coolant leaving the core increases with flow rate decrease. However, at the inlet of the holdup tank, the total dose rate first increases, then passes through a maximum at ∼500 m3/h, and finally decreases with flow rate decrease. The activity at the outlet of the holdup tank is mainly due to 24Na and 56Mn, and it increases by ∼2% when the flow rate decreases from 1000 to 145 m3/h. In an accidental power rise at constant flow rate, the activity in the coolant increases, and the dose rates at all the points along the coolant path show a slight nonlinear rise as the reactor power density increases.