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What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
Masao Hamada, Kunio Uehara, Kazuyoshi Muramatsu, Takanobu Kamei, Tetsuo Tamaoki, Mitsuaki Yamaoka, † Yukio Sonoda, Yuji Sano, Masuo Sato, Takayuki Sudo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 98 | Number 1 | April 1992 | Pages 1-13
Technical Paper | Fast Reactor Safety / Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34646
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Detection and location of failed fuel in a liquidmetal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) are very important both for safety and availability. When a fuel failure is detected, it is desirable to identify the failed subassembly quickly to reduce plant shutdown time. The flux tilting method is expected to effectively identify the defective subassembly. The feasibility of the flux tilting method is investigated for an LMFBR with a 1000-MW(electric) homogeneous core. A numerical simulation is performed to estimate the viability of the flux tilting method, and a combination of the flux tilting method and the sipping method is found to be very effective in identifying the failed subassembly. A functional scheme for a computer-aided failed fuel detection and location system is discussed as part of a future online support system.
