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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.
Gary R. Smolen, Sidney R. Bierman, Nobuo Fukumura
Nuclear Technology | Volume 107 | Number 3 | September 1994 | Pages 285-303
Technical Paper | Nuclear Criticality Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A35009
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Critical experiments were conducted with organic- and water-moderated arrays of mixed plutonium and uranium oxide fuel pins. The organic solution consisted of 32 vol% tributyl phosphate and 68 vol% normal paraffin hydrocarbon. The square lattice pitches ranged from 0.761 to 1.935 cm. A direct comparison between the reactivity of the two systems was not possible, because most of the experiments conducted with water were performed ∼7yr before the organic solution experiments. At the two lattice pitches where a direct comparison could be made, based on the number of fuel pins required for criticality, it was determined that the reactivity of the water-moderated system was the same or slightly higher than the organic-moderated system. These data were used in calculational studies performed independently at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation of Japan (PNC) with the KENO-IV computer code. A 27-energy-group cross-section library derived from the Evaluated Nuclear Data File B-Version IV (ENDF/B-IV) was used in both studies. The results of these analyses are in good agreement with the experimental results with calculated keff’s ranging from 0.991 to 1.014. The average calculated keff’s based on the ORNL and PNC analyses were 1.001 and 1.004, respectively. No trends in calculated keff with any parameters were identified.