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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.”
David R. Desaulniers (NRC)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1769-1777
The human factors engineering (HFE) validation of a nuclear power plant control room design, or of a design modification (e.g., for modernization), is a complex undertaking that faces many technical and logistical challenges. These challenges include conducting validations that address the diversity of operating conditions, staffing configurations, and failure scenarios that the plant will experience, or must be designed to tolerate. Such challenges must be addressed within the practical constraints of available resources (e.g., test personnel, participants, testbeds, and time). How these challenges are addressed can impact the confidence that vendors, nuclear plant operating companies, and regulatory authorities have in validation results and conclusions. Since 2013, the Nuclear Energy Agency’s Working Group on Human and Organizational Factors has been working with industry experts in control room validation to identify and advance the development of methods for enhancing confidence in control room validations. The most recent product of these efforts is a working group report that describes a general approach and rationale for validating systems through a series of successive, coordinated validation activities. The working group refers to this approach as, multi-stage validation (MSV). This paper summarizes the central concepts and issues discussed in the working group report, including the defining characteristics of MSV and those that characterize an effective MSV implementation. Also addressed in this paper are methods and issues important to MSV implementation and its further development as an approach to the HFE validation of nuclear power plant control room designs and modifications.