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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.
Katsuo Suzuki, Koiti Watanabe
Nuclear Technology | Volume 113 | Number 2 | February 1996 | Pages 145-154
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35184
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method of nonlinear filtering is applied to the problem of estimating the dynamic reactivity of a nonlinear reactor system. The nonlinear filtering algorithm developed is a simple modification of a linear H∞ optimal filter with a nonlinear feedback loop added. The linear filter is designed on the basis of a linearized dynamical system model that consists of linearized point reactor kinetic equations and a reactivity state equation driven by a fictitious signal. The latter is artificially introduced to deal with the reactivity as a state variable. The results of the computer simulation show that the nonlinear filtering algorithm can be applied to estimate the dynamic reactivity of the nonlinear reactor system, even under relatively large reactivity disturbances.