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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.
Shripad T. Revankar, Seungmin Oh, Wenzhong Zhou, Gavin Henderson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 170 | Number 1 | April 2010 | Pages 28-39
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the 2008 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants / Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A9443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A condensation correlation was developed for vapor and air mixture condensation in a vertical tube based on experimental data and a mechanistic model based on heat and mass analogy model. Parametric computations were performed using a heat and mass analogy model for various operating parameters of the passive condenser system. The parameters investigated were noncondensable gas mass fraction Wbulk, mixture gas Reynolds number ReG, and Jacob number JaG. An alternating conditional expectation (ACE) regression algorithm was used to develop the condensation heat transfer correlation for the passive condenser. A total of 102600 data points was used as input to the ACE. Local condensation heat transfer correlations in terms of Nusselt number (Nucond) obtained were: Nucond = 0.08Wbulk-0.9ReG1.1exp(-42.5JaG) for turbulent flow and Nucond = 160Wbulk-0.9exp(-42.5JaG) for laminar flow. The correlations are valid for 0 Wbulk 0.5, 0 ReG 4 × 104 , 0.002 JaG 0.05. The prediction of the developed correlation agreed well with the available experimental data. The correlations are useful in predicting the heat transfer characteristics of a passive containment cooling system (PCCS) in an economic simplified boiling water reactor. These correlations apply to the three modes of PCCS operation, namely through-flow mode, complete condensation mode, and cyclic condensation and venting mode.
