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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.
Ross Pivovar, Ole Wieckhorst
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 7 | July 2019 | Pages 945-950
Regular Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1548220
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
All licensable critical heat flux (CHF) correlations/regressions models must determine and demonstrate a “design limit” that bounds the CHF correlation predicted/measured residuals via a 95/95 tolerance limit. This is a quick and straightforward calculation when the residuals are well behaved, exhibiting no trends and no heteroscedasticity. However, as models become increasingly complex and as required parameter ranges become more extended, the likelihood of nonconservative subregions increases. A suggested solution from the open literature is the overly conservative approach of basing the design limit on the subregion with the largest variance. This approach unavoidably overly constrains the overall regression model and often is too conservative for subregions due to a loss in degrees of freedom. Quantile regressions alleviate these issues by smoothly varying the design limit based on covariates and adapting to each subregion. Thus, a quantile regression achieves the objective of appropriately bounding all subregions without overly biasing the overall regression model.