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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.
Tsuyoshi Misawa, Seiji Shiroya, Keiji Kanda
Nuclear Technology | Volume 116 | Number 1 | October 1996 | Pages 9-18
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35308
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments on the reactivity worth of beryllium metal were performed using the Kyoto University Critical Assembly, and they were analyzed to examine the validity of the computational method to treat (n,2n) reactions in calculations. The experimental results demonstrated that beryllium metal has positive reactivity worth compared with graphite. In the analysis, (n,2n) reactions were treated as modifying scattering cross sections in a transport calculation, whereas both scattering and absorption cross sections should be modified in a diffusion calculation. The results of calculations for the reactivity worth of beryllium agreed with experimental data within a few percent in the calculated-to-experimental ratio. Calculated results indicated that (n,2n) reactions of beryllium contribute by ∼85% to the positive reactivity worth compared with graphite in these experiments at a thermal reactor. Moreover, through the improved neutron and gamma-ray coupled calculation, the effect of (γ,n) reactions of beryllium on reactivity was estimated. It was found that (γ,n) reactions of beryllium can be negligible so far as this reactivity worth is concerned.