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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Virginia utility considers SMRs
Dominion Energy Virginia has issued a request for proposals from leading nuclear companies to study the feasibility of putting a small modular reactor at its North Anna nuclear power plant.
While the utility says it is not a commitment to build an SMR at the site, the RFP is “an important first step in evaluating the technology and the North Anna site to support Dominion Energy customers’ future energy needs consistent with the company’s most recent Integrated Resource Plan.”
Truong V. Vo, Patrick G. Heasler, Steven R. Doctor, Frederic A. Simonen, Bryan F. Gore
Nuclear Technology | Volume 96 | Number 3 | December 1991 | Pages 259-271
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT91-A34588
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As part of the nondestructive evaluation reliability program sponsored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) developed a risk-based method for establishing inspection priorities for systems and components at nuclear power plants. In this method, the results of probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) are used to estimate the safety consequences of component failures. The method also requires estimates of the probabilities of structural failures. Since sufficient operating experience data and detailed fracture mechanics analyses are not available, an expert judgment elicitation is conducted to estimate component rupture probabilities. (An expert judgment process is generally adapted from the NRC severe accident risk program.) The plant selected for the detailed evaluation is the Surry nuclear power station Unit 1 (Surry-1). Systems selected for analysis are the reactor pressure vessel, the reactor coolant, the low-pressure injection including the accumulators, and the auxiliary feedwater. Additional technical information is gathered regarding the elicited issues. The data appear to be reasonable, and they generally agree with and reflect Surry-1 plant operating experience. Typical areas of concern correspond to such factors as high stresses (e.g., places where mixing of fluids with large temperature differences occurs) and places where erosion or corrosion effects are active. These results will be used by PNL in an ongoing pilot study based on the PRA results and other relevant information in determining the inspection priorities for systems and components at the Surry power plant.