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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.
Sin Kim, Goon-Cherl Park
Nuclear Technology | Volume 117 | Number 3 | March 1997 | Pages 340-352
Technical Paper | Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35348
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The anisotropic turbulent diffusion and the turbulent mixing phenomena in rod bundle flow fields are studied. The former is a distinguishing feature of the flow through rod bundles, and the latter is essential to the subchannel thermal-hydraulic analysis. On the basis of the flow pulsation, which is suggested as a main process of turbulent mixing, scale relations for principal parameters such as the anisotropic factor and mixing rate are derived. To obtain a scale relation for the anisotropic factor, eddy viscosities are classified into isotropic and flow pulsation parts. Scales of each part are estimated using the scale analysis method. For the purpose of determining the length and velocity scales of the pul sating flow, a hypothetical circulating flow with a period corresponding to the frequency of the pulsation is assumed. The scale relation is compared with the experimental data and shows good agreement both with respect to trend and magnitude for various geometries. Thus, it is concluded that the flow pulsation is a significant contributor to the strong anisotropy in the rod bundle flow field. Also, the mixing rate is predicted by estimating the effective mixing velocity. The estimated mixing rate is transformed into well-known dimensionless numbers, which are compared with the experimental data and with correlations to verify the predictability.