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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.
Takeshi Tsukada, Keiju Takahashi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 162 | Number 2 | May 2008 | Pages 229-243
Technical Paper | First International Pyroprocessing Research Conference | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3951
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In pyrometallugical reprocessing, the spent electrorefiner salt containing fission product (FP) elements may be purified by zeolite and reused. Batch-type absorption tests were conducted using one or two FP chlorides in a LiCl-KCl eutectic electrolyte in order to obtain absorption isotherms to fit to a Langmuir equation model. For the trivalent FP elements in the one-component or two-component systems, the FP-element uptake in the zeolite can be related to its concentration in the salt using a single Langmuir-type equation. In contrast, for monovalent and divalent FP elements, it was necessary to use three different Langmuir-type equations. Using these derived absorption equations and a stage concentration diagram, it was found that only a three-stage process is required to attain a decontamination factor of 50 for trivalent FP elements via a countercurrent multistage process.