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Remembering Charles E. Till
Charles E. Till
Charles E. Till, an ANS member since 1963 and Fellow since 1987, passed away on March 22 at the age of 89. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Imperial College, University of London. Till initially worked for the Civilian Atomic Power Department of the Canadian General Electric Company, where he was the physicist in charge of the startup of the first prototype CANDU reactor in Canada.
Till joined Argonne National Laboratory in 1963 in the Applied Physics Division, where he worked as an experimentalist in the Fast Critical Experiments program. He then moved to additional positions of increasing responsibility, becoming division director in 1973. Under his leadership, the Applied Physics Division established itself as one of the elite reactor physics organizations in the world. Both the experimental (critical experiments and nuclear data measurements) and nuclear analysis methods work were internationally recognized. Till led Argonne’s participation in the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE), and he was the lead U.S. delegate to INFCE Working Group 5, Fast Breeders.
Stanislas Couix
Nuclear Technology | Volume 202 | Number 2 | May-June 2018 | Pages 290-298
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1406773
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper deals with the contributions of human factors and ergonomics experts to the design of the control room (CR) of a new generation reactor, our view of the multistage validation (MSV) process, and the issues faced during it. Our approach to MSV was to articulate two points of view: the designers’ point of view (test and explore various design options) and the regulatory authorities’ point of view (validate the performance of the socio-technical system of the CR). To perform this articulation, both tests and validation shared the same method and goals. The main issues faced during this process were to (1) get a coherent and integrated version of the full-scope simulator when the design of the socio-technical system of the CR was still in progress, (2) determine when to stop MSVs, and (3) define a criterion for the sampling of operational conditions. The first issue led us to the conclusion that specific project milestones synchronizing the design of every part of the CR have to be planned early in the project in order to mitigate the risk of delaying whole system tests (WSTs). Regarding the second issue, we advocate that no further WSTs are required when the last modifications brought to the CR design have no significant impact on crews’ activities. Finally, concerning the last issue, we think that performing WSTs in all classes of situations a crew may face during operating the plant is necessary.