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What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
Kenneth R. Olson, Douglass L. Henderson, Michael L. Woosley, Jr., William C. Sailor
Nuclear Technology | Volume 110 | Number 1 | April 1995 | Pages 115-131
Fission Reactor | Burnup Credit | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35101
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The possibility of an unstable positive reactivity growth in an accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW)-type highr-flux system is investigated. While it has always been clear that xenon is an important actor in the reactivity response of a system to flux changes, it has been suggested that in very high thermal flux transuranic burning systems, a positive, unstable reactivity growth could be caused by the actinides alone. Initial system reactivity response to flux changes caused by the actinides and xenon are investigated separately. The maximum change in reactivity after a flux change caused by the effect of the changing quantities of actinides is generally at least two orders of magnitude smaller than either the positive or negative reactivity effect associated with xenon after a shutdown or startup. In any transient flux event, the reactivity response of the system to xenon will generally occlude the response caused by the actinides. The capabilities and applications of both the current actinide model and the xenon model are discussed. Finally, the need for a complete dynamic model for the high-flux fluid-fueled ATW system is addressed.