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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.
Yoshiyuki Inagaki, Yoshiaki Miyamoto, Tamao Nakajima, Tsuyoshi Kozuma, Hajime Shoji
Nuclear Technology | Volume 104 | Number 1 | October 1993 | Pages 106-117
Technical Paper | Reactor Operation | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34873
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental study is carried out to clarify the performance of an eddy current testing probe and probe-inserting equipment for the in-service inspection of the intermediate heat exchanger tubes of the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor. Artificial discontinuities are made with reference to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers standards for steam generator tubes in a light water reactor. It is confirmed that the probe can detect these discontinuities as well as smaller ones, such as a 0.5-mm-diam 100% through-wall hole and a 0.5-mm-wide groove, in a base-metal tube. For the welded joints, the back-excess weld metal is a main noise contributor, and a multiple-frequency method can remove the noise. The inspection performance, however, is lower. The probe-inserting equipment can smoothly insert and extract the probe. The winding of the cable causes a scattering in the probe traveling velocity values and a measurement error regarding the probe’s location in the tube.