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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.
Sang-Yong Lee, Chang-Hwan Ban
Nuclear Technology | Volume 148 | Number 3 | December 2004 | Pages 335-347
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3571
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several researchers have endeavored to develop methodologies to extrapolate the uncertainties gathered from reduced-size facilities to the full-size nuclear power plant. They are all based on the general guideline of the code scaling, applicability, and uncertainty (CSAU) method. Although there is an extensive compilation of experimental and theoretical databases and a detailed guide about the best-estimate calculation of loss-of-coolant accidents, these applications are dissimilar to each other. The absence of a procedure to implement the requirement of direct data comparison with integral- and separate-effects tests in determining the code uncertainty is the main cause of the differences. To overcome this problem, a code-accuracy-based uncertainty estimation (CABUE) technique has been developed, in which the code accuracy becomes the measure of the selection of code parameters and the determination of the ranges of them. An application of this technique to a Westinghouse three-loop nuclear power plant has been successfully performed.