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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.
Georgeta Radulescu, Ian C. Gauld, Germina Ilas, John C. Wagner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 188 | Number 2 | November 2014 | Pages 154-171
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-154
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes a depletion code validation approach for criticality safety analysis using burnup credit for actinide and fission product nuclides in spent nuclear fuel (SNF) compositions. The technical basis for determining the uncertainties in the calculated nuclide concentrations is comparison of calculations to available measurements obtained from destructive radiochemical assay of SNF samples. Probability distributions developed for the uncertainties in the calculated nuclide concentrations were applied to the SNF compositions of criticality safety analysis models by the use of a Monte Carlo uncertainty sampling method to determine bias and bias uncertainty in the effective neutron multiplication factor. Application of the Monte Carlo uncertainty sampling approach is demonstrated for representative criticality safety analysis models of pressurized water reactor spent fuel pool storage racks and transportation packages using burnup-dependent nuclide concentrations calculated with Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation (SCALE) 6.1 and the Evaluated Nuclear Data File/B (ENDF/B) Version VII nuclear data. The validation approach and results support a recent revision of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Interim Staff Guidance (ISG)-8.