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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.
Sitakanta Mohanty, Richard Blake Codell
Nuclear Technology | Volume 148 | Number 2 | November 2004 | Pages 105-114
Technical Paper | High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3551
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The key findings from a suite of independent analyses of the performance of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, conducted by the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), are summarized. The analyses are geared toward obtaining risk insights from deterministic and probabilistic calculations of potential exposure to people in a down-gradient community, determining the capability of barriers to reduce flow of water and prevent or delay radionuclide transport, and identifying models, parameters, and subsystems that have the most influence on repository performance through the use of sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. The analyses have allowed the CNWRA and NRC to focus on the most critical aspects of estimating postclosure repository performance.