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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.
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Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Pavel Hejzlar, Cliff B. Davis
Nuclear Technology | Volume 147 | Number 3 | September 2004 | Pages 344-367
Technical Paper | Medium-Power Lead-Alloy Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3536
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A lead-bismuth-cooled fast reactor concept targeted for a balanced mission of actinide burning and low-cost electricity production is proposed and its performance analyzed. The design explores the potential benefits of thorium-based fuel in actinide-burning cores, in particular in terms of the reduction of the large reactivity swing and enhancement of the small Doppler coefficient typical of fertile-free actinide burners. Reduced electricity production cost is pursued through a longer cycle length than that used for fertile-free burners and thus a higher capacity factor. It is shown that the concept can achieve a high transuranics destruction rate, which is only 20% lower than that of an accelerator-driven system with fertile-free fuel. The small negative fuel temperature reactivity coefficient, small positive coolant temperature reactivity coefficient, and negative core radial expansion coefficient provide self-regulating characteristics so that the reactor is capable of inherent shutdown during major transients without scram, as in the Integral Fast Reactor. This is confirmed by thermal-hydraulic analysis of several transients without scram, including primary coolant pump trip, station blackout, and reactivity step insertion, which showed that the reactor was able to meet all identified thermal limits. However, the benefits of high actinide consumption and small reactivity swing can be attained only if the uranium from the discharged fuel is separated and not recycled. This additional uranium separation step and thorium reprocessing significantly increase the fuel cycle costs. Because the higher fuel cycle cost has a larger impact on the overall cost of electricity than the savings from the higher capacity factor afforded through use of thorium, this concept appears less promising than the fertile-free actinide burners.