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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.
Grant L. Hawkes, James E. O'Brien, Carl M. Stoots, J. Stephen Herring, Mehrdad Shahnam
Nuclear Technology | Volume 158 | Number 2 | May 2007 | Pages 132-144
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3831
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model has been created to model high-temperature steam electrolysis in a planar solid-oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC). The model represents a single cell as it would exist in an electrolysis stack. Details of the model geometry are specific to a stack tested at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Mass, momentum, energy, and species conservation and transport are provided via the core features of the commercial CFD code FLUENT. A solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) model adds the electrochemical reactions and loss mechanisms and computation of the electric field throughout the cell. The FLUENT SOFC user-defined subroutine was modified to allow for operation in the SOEC mode. Model results provide detailed profiles of temperature, Nernst potential, operating potential, anode-side gas composition, cathode-side gas composition, current density, and hydrogen production in a range of stack operating conditions. Mean model results are shown to compare favorably with experimental results obtained from an actual ten-cell stack tested at INL.