• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.316-327
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• 2000

The Emergency Core Cooling System in current nuclear power plants typically has a considerable number of complex functions and largely cumbersome operator interfaces. Functions for initiation, switch-over between various phases of operation, interlocks, monitoring, and alarming are usually performed by relays and analog comparator logic which are difficult to maintain and test. To improve problems of an analog based ECC (Emergency Core Cooling) System, the trip computer for ECCS based on Dynamic Safety System (DSS) is implemented. The DSS is a computer based reactor protection system that has fail-safe nature and performs a dynamic self-testing. The most important feature of the DSS is the introduction of test signal that send the system into a tripped state. The test signals are interleaved with the plant signals to produce an output which switches between a tripped and health state. The dynamic operation is a key feature of the failsafe design of the system. In this work, a possible implementation of the DSS using PLC is presented for a CANDU Reactor. ECC System of the CANDU Reactor is selected as the reference system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.426-433
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• 2017

This paper describes the development process, the innovative techniques used and insights gained from the latest integrated, full scope, multistate Level 2 PSA analysis conducted at the Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant (KKL), Switzerland. KKL is a modern single-unit General Electric Boiling Water Reactor (BWR/6) with Mark III Containment, and a power output of $3600MW_{th}/1200MW_e$, the highest among the five operating reactors in Switzerland. A Level 2 Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) analyses accident phenomena in nuclear power plants, identifies ways in which radioactive releases from plants can occur and estimates release pathways, magnitude and frequency. This paper attempts to give an overview of the advanced modeling techniques that have been developed and implemented for the recent KKL Level 2 PSA update, with the aim of systematizing the analysis and modeling processes, as well as complying with the relatively prescriptive Swiss requirements for PSA. The analysis provides significant insights into the absolute and relative importances of risk contributors and accident prevention and mitigation measures. Thanks to several newly developed techniques and an integrated approach, the KKL Level 2 PSA report exhibits a high degree of reviewability and maintainability, and transparently highlights the most important risk contributors to Large Early Release Frequency (LERF) with respect to initiating events, components, operator actions or seismic component failure probabilities (fragilities).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.541-546
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• 2014

Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) has been widely used to estimate the overall safety of nuclear power plants (NPP) and it provides base information for risk informed application (RIA) and risk informed regulation (RIR). For the effective and correct use of PSA in RIA/RIR related decision making, the risk estimated by a PSA model should be as realistic as possible. In this work, a best-estimate thermal-hydraulic analysis of loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) for the Hanul Nuclear Units 3&4 is first carried out in a systematic way. That is, the behaviors of peak cladding temperature (PCT) were analyzed with various combinations of break sizes, the operating conditions of safety systems, and the operator's action time for aggressive secondary cooling. Thereafter, the results of the thermal-hydraulic analysis have been reflected in the improvement of the PSA model by changing both accident sequences and success criteria of the event trees for the LOCA scenarios.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.74-80
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• 2000

In this paper, we present a control method of mobile power assist systems. Most of mobile power assist systems have a heavy base for preventing easy tumbling, so continual movement of the base during operations causes high energy consumption and gives the high risk of human injury. Furthermore, the slow dynamics of the base limits the frequency bandwidth of the whole system. Thus we propose a cooperation control method of the mobile base and manipulator, which removes the unnecessary movements of the base. In our scheme, the mobile base does not move until the center of gravity(C.G) of the system goes outside a safety region. When C.G. reaches the boundary of the safety region, the base starts moving to recover the manipulator's initial configuration. By varying the parameters of a human impedance controller, the operator is warned by a force feedback that C.G. is on the marginal safety region. Our scheme is implemented by assigning a nonlinear mass-damper-spring impedance to the tip of the manipulator. Our scheme is implemented by a nonlinear mass-spring impedance to the tip of the manipulator. The experimental results show the efficacy of the proposed control method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2014

This paper provides an integrated view on human and system interaction in advanced and automated systems, which adopting computerized multi-functional artifacts and complicated organizations, such as nuclear power plants, chemical plants, steel and semi-conduct manufacturing system. As current systems have advanced with various automated equipments but human operators from various organizations are involved in the systems, system safety still remains uncertain. Especially, a human operator plays an important role at the time of critical conditions that can lead to catastrophic accidents. The knowledge on human error helps a risk manager as well as a designer to create and control a more credible system. Several human error theories were reviewed and adopted for forming the integrated perspective: gulf of execution and evaluation; risk homeostasis; the ironies of automation; trust in automation; design affordance; distributed cognition; situation awareness; and plan delegation theory. The integrated perspective embraces human error theories within three levels of human-system interactions such as affordance level, psychological logic level and trust level. This paper argued that risk management process should dealt with human errors by providing (1) reasoning improvement; (2) support to situation awareness of operators; and (3) continuous monitoring on harmonization of human system interaction. This approach may help people to understand risk of human-system interaction failure characteristics and their countermeasures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2915-2923
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• 2022

There is an increasing interest in passive safety systems to minimize the need for operator intervention or external power sources in nuclear power plants. Because a passive system has a weak driving force, there is greater uncertainty in the performance compared with an active system. In previous studies, several methods have been suggested to evaluate passive system reliability, and many of them estimated the failure probability using thermal-hydraulic analyses and the Monte Carlo method. However, if the functional failure of a passive system is rare, it is difficult to estimate the failure probability using conventional methods owing to their high computational time. In this paper, a procedure for the application of the Chernoff bound to the evaluation of passive system reliability is proposed. A feasibility study of the procedure was conducted on a passive decay heat removal system of a micro modular reactor in its conceptual design phase, and it was demonstrated that the passive system reliability can be evaluated without performing a large number of thermal-hydraulic analyses or Monte Carlo simulations when the system has a small failure probability. Accordingly, the advantages and constraints of applying the Chernoff bound for passive system reliability evaluation are discussed in this paper.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.62-69
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• 2022

Construction machinery is exposed to accidents such as collisions, narrowness, and overturns during operation. In particular, mobile crane is operated only with the driver's vision and limited information of the assistant worker. Thus, there is a high risk of an accident. Recently, some collision avoidance device using sensors such as cameras and LiDAR have been applied. However, they are still insufficient to prevent collisions in the omnidirectional 3D space. In this study, a rotating LiDAR device was developed and applied to a 250-ton crane to obtain a full-space point cloud. An algorithm that could provide distance information and safety status to the driver was developed. Also, deep-learning segmentation algorithm was used to classify human-worker. The developed device could recognize obstacles within 100m of a 360-degree range. In the experiment, a safety distance was calculated with an error of 10.3cm at 30m to give the operator an accurate distance and collision alarm.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2013.01a
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• pp.74-79
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• 2013

Aiming at reducing deaths and injuries involving construction crane operations, OSHA has recently updated its 40-year-old crane safety standards with new rules addressing the use of cranes and derricks in construction. The goal of this change in rule is to deal with the leading causes of fatalities related to crane and derrick operations. Employers in the construction industry are mandated to ensure that employees in the work zone are trained to recognize hazards associated with the use of the equipment and any related duties that they are assigned to perform. However, those responsible at construction sites for the supervision and management of safe crane operations often lack the integrated knowledge of the standards, regulations and best practices for conducting or supervising daily, monthly, or quarterly inspection of cranes. As such, proper planning, management and implementation of crane operations, including inspections are just as paramount to reducing accidents on the construction site. It is important that engineers responsible for the management and planning of crane operations understand the latest OSHA crane and hoisting standards to ensure a safer work environment is maintained. Many on site engineers overseeing crane operations do not have adequate training, experience, and knowledge of the inspection requirements to assess safe crane operation and too often rely on the crane operator's judgement. This paper highlights recent research effort in defining significant changes in new crane and hoisting standards and provides basis for safety construction operations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 1988

The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability of the High Head Safety Injection System (HHIS) of KNU 5, 6, 7 and 8 following the removal of safety injection signal (s-signal) from the mini-flow bypass line valves of charging/safety injection pumps. The unavailability of HHSIS and the rupture probability of a charging/safety injection pump have been computed for two different cases; with s-signal on and removed. The results show that when the s-signal is removed from the mini-flow bypass line valves, the unavailability of HHSIS slightly increases while the rupture probability of a charging/safety injection pump is significantly reduced. Hence, based upon the results of this study we conclude that it is more reasonable to remove the s-signal from the mini-flow bypass line valves of KNU 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the normal plant operation. And to improve the availability of HHSIS, the modification of operational procedures and the emphasis on operator training are recommended.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.125-140
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• 2013

This paper aims to give an overview of the methods to inherently prevent human errors and to effectively mitigate the consequences of such errors by securing defense-in-depth during plant management through the advanced man-machine interface system (MMIS). It is needless to stress the significance of human error reduction during an accident in nuclear power plants (NPPs). Unexpected shutdowns caused by human errors not only threaten nuclear safety but also make public acceptance of nuclear power extremely lower. We have to recognize there must be the possibility of human errors occurring since humans are not essentially perfect particularly under stressful conditions. However, we have the opportunity to improve such a situation through advanced information and communication technologies on the basis of lessons learned from our experiences. As important lessons, authors explained key issues associated with automation, man-machine interface, operator support systems, and procedures. Upon this investigation, we outlined the concept and technical factors to develop advanced automation, operation and maintenance support systems, and computer-based procedures using wired/wireless technology. It should be noted that the ultimate responsibility of nuclear safety obviously belongs to humans not to machines. Therefore, safety culture including education and training, which is a kind of organizational factor, should be emphasized as well. In regard to safety culture for human error reduction, several issues that we are facing these days were described. We expect the ideas of the advanced MMIS proposed in this paper to lead in the future direction of related researches and finally supplement the safety of NPPs.