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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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August 2024
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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.”
Hanna Koskinen, Jari Laarni, Marja Liinasuo (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland), Leena Salo (Fortum Power and Heat Oy)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 488-498
We present an application of Systems Usability Case (SUC) as an overall human factors validation approach in a nuclear power plant control room modernization project. SUC enables a requirement-based human factors evaluation of complex technical systems that may cover the entire verification and validation process. The SUC is based on the Safety Case approach and on the Systems Usability construct. One of the main aims of establishing a Safety Case is to bring to the front the arguments and evidence for safety in such a way that the reasoning supports the work of a regulator or licensing organization. In the end, the SUC enables evaluating the Systems Usability of a system and making a reasonable solid argument about the acceptance of the system for use. The question is how the conclusions are reached through a reasoning process, in which the arguments are made about the evidence to approve or reject the claim concerning the quality of the system. The paper presents an application of the SUC to real data from an integrated system validation of the modernized main control room of Loviisa nuclear power plant. The results of the validation are discussed from the point of view of how the SUC approach enabled forming a statement about the acceptance of the control room. Moreover, some examples are given to demonstrate the learnings (e.g., strengths and weaknesses) as well as the development needs of the SUC approach.