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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.
Daisuke Kawasaki, Joonhong Ahn
Nuclear Technology | Volume 163 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 137-146
Technical Paper | High-Level Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3977
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method that utilizes a time-domain random-walk model with residence time distributions (RTDs) for radionuclides in a compartment has been developed and applied to a safety assessment model for geologic disposal of high-level radioactive wastes. By choosing a proper RTD, which can be determined by a detailed model for radionuclide transport in a compartment, the present compartment model can simulate radionuclide transport through a repository region without numerical dispersion due to coarse discretization. The method has been demonstrated and illustrated for the case that the physical transport processes in a compartment and the corresponding RTD are known. For an actual performance assessment for a geologic repository, in which multiple waste packages are placed in an array configuration, it is considered that the repository-scale transport simulation can be greatly modularized and simplified by obtaining an RTD around a single package.