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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.
Guido Ledergerber, Franz Ingold, Richard W. Stratton, Hans-Peter Alder, Claude Prunier, Dominique Warin, Mireille Bauer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 114 | Number 2 | May 1996 | Pages 194-204
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35249
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the fabrication of fuel containing transuranium (TRU) elements, flow sheets and techniques that allow a shielded and/or remote fabrication will probably need to be applied. One approach, which has been demonstrated on the laboratory and semiprototype scale, is the wet fabrication route of coprecipitation of the matrix element uranium mixed with plutonium to form either dense spherical particles or to produce hybrid pellets made from pressed gel microspheres. The ceramic material produced holds the TRU elements homogeneously distributed in the matrix. In conjunction with the Département d’Études des Combustibles of the French Commissariat à I’Énergie Atomique in Cadarache, France, the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland is further developing a mixed nitride ceramic and mixed oxide with high concentrations (up to 50%) of plutonium with the aim of a joint irradiation test of TRU elements in the French Phénix reactor.