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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.
Shawn P. Burns, Dale E. Klein
Nuclear Technology | Volume 104 | Number 2 | November 1993 | Pages 157-163
Technical Paper | Special Issue on Waste Management / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34879
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The TEXSAN thermal-hydraulic analysis program was developed to simulate buoyancy-driven fluid flow and heat transfer in spent-fuel and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) shipping applications. The TEXSAN design has sufficient flexibility to conduct full cask analysis as well as small-scale heat and mass transfer simulations on a rod-to-rod basis within an individual fuel assembly. As part of the TEXSAN software quality assurance program, the software has been subjected to a series of test cases intended to validate its capabilities. The validation tests include many physical phenomena that arise in spent-fuel and HLW shipping applications. Some of the principal results of the TEXSAN validation tests are described, and they are compared with solutions available in the open literature. The TEXSAN validation effort has shown that the TEXSAN program is stable and consistent under a range of operating conditions and provides accuracy comparable with other heat transfer programs and evaluation techniques. The modeling capabilities and the interactive user interface employed by the TEXSAN program should make it a useful tool in HLW transportation analysis.