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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.
Byoung Kyu Jeon, Cheol Ho Pyeon, Hyung Jin Shim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 191 | Number 2 | August 2015 | Pages 174-184
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-83
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments on the isothermal temperature reactivity coefficient (ITRC) have been carried out at the light water–moderated core with or without a D2O tank in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly. The ITRC experiments are analyzed by a continuous-energy Monte Carlo (MC) neutron transport analysis code, McCARD. Through the temperature changes of H2O and D2O, effects of the coolant density changes in moderator and reflector regions and the microscopic cross-section variations on the ITRC are investigated by sensitivity analyses with the use of the MC adjoint-weighted perturbation method. An adjoint-weighted correlated sampling method for the stochastic mixing technique of cross-section libraries is devised to estimate the reactivity change from a perturbation of the thermal scattering cross sections due to the temperature change. From results of the MC perturbation analyses, it is clearly seen that the ITRCs of the two core configurations are dominated by a negative contribution of the number density change of hydrogen in the moderator region and a positive contribution of the thermal scattering cross-section change of hydrogen in the reflector region.
