Human Reliability Considerations for Small Modular Reactors

OHara J. M. ; Higgins, H. ; DAgostino, A. ; Erasmia, L.

关键词: DESIGN;    HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING;    HYDROGEN;    PROCESS HEAT;    RELIABILITY human factors engineering;    small modular reactors;    safety reviews;    probabilistic risk assessment;    human reliability analysis;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1043375
RP-ID  :  BNL--96881-2012
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1043375
Others  :  R&D Project: 15444
Others  :  N-6862
Others  :  Other: 401001060
Others  :  TRN: US201214%%125

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a promising approach to meeting future energy needs. Although the electrical output of an individual SMR is relatively small compared to that of typical commercial nuclear plants, they can be grouped to produce as much energy as a utility demands. Furthermore, SMRs can be used for other purposes, such as producing hydrogen and generating process heat. The design characteristics of many SMRs differ from those of current conventional plants and may require a distinct concept of operations. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) conducted research to examine the human factors engineering and the operational aspects of SMRs. The research identified thirty potential human-performance issues that should be considered in the NRC's reviews of SMR designs and in future research activities. The purpose of this report is to illustrate how the issues can support SMR probabilistic risk analyses and their review by identifying potential human failure events for a subset of the issues. As part of addressing the human contribution to plant risk, human reliability analysis practitioners identify and quantify the human failure events that can negatively impact normal or emergency plant operations. The results illustrated here can be generalized to identify additional human failure events for the issues discussed and can be applied to those issues not discussed in this report.