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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.
Alan D. Wilkinson, B. Basoglu, C. L. Bentley, M. E. Dunn, Chris F. Haught, M. J. Plaster, T. Yamamoto, H. L. Dodds, Calvin M. Hopper
Nuclear Technology | Volume 111 | Number 2 | August 1995 | Pages 227-240
Technical Note | Nuclear Criticality Safety Special / Nuclear Criticality Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35132
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Slide rules are improved for estimating doses and dose rates resulting from nuclear criticality accidents. The original slide rules were created for highly enriched uranium solutions and metals using hand calculations along with the decades old Way- Wigner radioactive decay relationship and the inverse square law. This work uses state-of-the-art methods and better data to improve the original slide rules and also to extend the slide rule concept to three additional systems; i.e., highly enriched (93.2 wt%) uranium damp (H/235U = 10) powder (U3O8) and low-enriched (5 wt%) uranium mixtures (UO2F2) with a H/235U ratio of 200 and 500. Although the improved slide rules differ only slightly from the original slide rules, the improved slide rules and also the new slide rules can be used with greater confidence since they are based on more rigorous methods and better nuclear data.