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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.
Xuejing Li
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 10 | October 2020 | Pages 1494-1505
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1710432
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An electromagnetic flowmeter (EMFM) has been used in the main cooling loop of the fast reactor, but the large-sized magnet structure of conventional EMFMs was not adopted. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a novel EMFM with small-sized magnets for the fast reactor. But the fear is that the decrease in the magnetic field and the end effect will make the EMFM’s performance worse, though there is no detailed information about the end effect due to such small-sized magnets. This paper describes the EMFM with small-sized magnets for coolant monitoring. By using three-dimensional steady-state electromagnetic analysis, we have studied numerically the end effect of an EMFM with saddle-shaped permanent magnets that are smaller in size than the pipe diameter. Consequently, it has been clarified that the performance of an EMFM can be improved by utilizing the effect of the downstream end of magnets and by combining the inclined electrodes and the effect of the circumferential ends of magnets.