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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.
Yoon Sub Sim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 156 | Number 3 | December 2006 | Pages 289-302
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT06-A3792
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In a thermal-hydraulic analysis for nuclear application, a one-dimensional analysis is widely used. In the analysis, averaging is required for the calculation of the cell property, and the accuracy of the averaging directly influences the accuracy of a numerical scheme. While the average value depends on the property distribution characteristics in a cell, conventional numerical schemes do not utilize the information. Instead, they rely on the use of a large number of nodes for their accuracy. There are many cases where the use of a large number of nodes is not practically allowed, especially in a transient system analysis, and the calculation results come to suffer from a large truncation error. To overcome the drawbacks of the conventional schemes, a new approach is introduced to reduce the truncation error by utilizing the distribution characteristics in a cell for the required averaging. The new approach places a node point at the boundary of a calculation cell and averaging is achieved from the properties at the inlet and outlet by using weighting factors that are determined from the cell property distribution. By this approach, it was successful to describe more accurately even a transient where the property distribution was stepwise. Steady-state calculation for a once-through steam generator where the feedwater is heated to superheated steam was accurately carried out with only three calculational nodes. The characteristics and achievements of the new approach are described.