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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.
Kyoung-Ho Kang, Rae-Joon Park, Sang-Baik Kim, Seong-Wan Hong
Nuclear Technology | Volume 167 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 211-222
Technical Paper | NURETH-12 / Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A8863
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Sustained heating experiments, named Experiments on Late-phase coolant Injection to ASsess the mitigation of focusing effect of metallic layer (ELIAS), were performed to quantify the boiling heat removal rate at the upper surface of a metallic layer for precise evaluations on the effect of a late-phase in-vessel coolant injection. Heat fluxes from the melt layer to the water pool varied from 250 to 550 kW/m2 depending on the surface temperature of the metallic layer. Comparison of boiling heat fluxes between the ELIAS experiments and the calculation using Berenson's film boiling correlation shows that effective heat removal was accomplished via late-phase coolant injection in the ELIAS experiments. In this study, a simple model was developed to evaluate the mitigation of focusing effect in the metallic layer via late-phase coolant injection. The ELIAS experimental data on the heat transfer rate at the upper surface of the metallic layer were used as input data in the simple model. The calculation results for the large-break loss-of-coolant accident in the APR1400 show that the risk induced by the focusing effect is highly dependent on the metallic layer thickness and an enhanced integrity of the reactor pressure vessel could be achieved via late-phase coolant injection during this time period.