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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.
G. Danko, J. Birkholzer, D. Bahrami
Nuclear Technology | Volume 163 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 110-128
Technical Paper | High-Level Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3975
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A thermal-hydrologic natural-ventilation model is configured for simulating temperature, humidity, and condensate distributions in the coupled domains of the in-drift airspace and the near-field rock mass in the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. The multiphysics problem is solved with MULTIFLUX, in which a lumped-parameter computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is iterated with TOUGH2. The iterative process ensures that consistent boundary conditions are used on the drift wall in both the CFD and the TOUGH2 model-elements. The CFD solution includes natural convection, conduction, and radiation for heat, as well as moisture convection and diffusion for moisture transport with half waste package-scale details in the drift. The TOUGH2 solution for the rock mass is generalized with the use of the Numerical Transport Code Functionalization technique in order to include both mountain-scale heat and moisture transport in the porous and fractured rock, and fine half waste package-scale details at the drift wall. The method provides fast convergence on a personal computer computational platform. Numerical examples and comparison with a TOUGH2-based integrated model are presented.