In This Issue: How the NRC modernized its digital I&C infrastructure Nuclear Online monitoring and nuclear plant News pressure transmitters June 2021 Instrumentation & Controls and Human Factors Bridging Plant Operations For A Reliable Future Westinghouse continues to lead the industry in plant modernization with digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems that improve plant operation and increase personnel efficiency through automatic controls and sequences, and rapid, comprehensive diagnostics. From standalone systems to integrated architectures, our advanced, reliable digital I&C solutions will allow long-term system upkeep consistent with your operational, maintenance and financial strategies for the next generation of plant operations. To learn more visit www.westinghousenuclear.com Shaping Tomorrow’s Energy Westinghouse Westinghouse @WECNuclear wecchinanuclear Electric Company Electric Company Westinghouse FP Page C2 Westinghouse FP Page 1 June 2021 Volume 64, Number 7 Special Report 30 Pandemic-delayed ANS Student Conference goes virtual Feature Articles 34 How the NRC modernized its digital I&C infrastructure and where it goes from here 44 Online monitoring technology to extend calibration intervals of nuclear plant pressure transmitters 52 Introducing the molten salt nuclear battery Every Issue 12 Leaders: Autonomous operation of small reactors: Economy of automation in lieu of economy of scale An Idaho National Laboratory simulation lab with 16 Spotlight On: The Utility Working Conference panels that can be reconfigured for U.S. nuclear and Vendor Technology Expo plant control room training and modernization. Departments 4 Nuclear Notes 74 Waste Management 97 Calendar 6 Readers Write 80 ANS News 100 Call for Papers 10 Atoms 84 Industry 102 Recently Published 18 A Critical Look 86 Standards 103 ANS Journals 24 Nuclear Trending 88 Opinion 104 Nuclear News Asks 58 Power & Operations 92 People 67 Research & Applications 96 Direct Answer 2 Nuclear News June 2021 Editorial Staff Director of Publications John Fabian Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Rick Michal Staff Writers Susan Gallier, Tim Gregoire, Upcoming Issue Alert! Paul LaTour, Michael McQueen Copy Editors Phyllis Ruzicka, David Strutz, Mary Tong Graphic Design Specialist Chris Salvato Contributing Designers Jay Bogardus, Lisa Dagley Advertising & Circulation Staff Director of Advertising Jeff Mosses Advertising Production Specialist Erica McGowan Editorial Advisory Committee Jess C. Gehin, John G. Gilligan Plan ahead for August ANS Officers President Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar Issue Preview: Vice President/President-Elect Steven P. 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Opinions expressed in this publication by the authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, the American Nuclear Society, or the organizations with which the authors are affiliated, nor should publication of author viewpoints or identification of materials or products be construed as endorsement by this publication or by the Society. Texts of most Nuclear News articles are available on the LexisNexis database, from Mead Data Corporation. ans.org/nn 3 Nuclear Notes A challenge for HFIC work It’s June and it’s time for the 12th Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control and Human- Machine Inter- face Technologies meeting (NPIC&HMIT 2021), taking place in conjunction with the 2021 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting. Professionals from all sectors of the nuclear community—utilities; national laboratories; government agencies; universities; and manufacturing, supply, and consulting companies—are involved with I&C and human factors. The ANS Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls Division has essentially been a part of ANS since 1979, when its predecessor—the Technical Group for Human Factors—was formed. That group became a division in 1985, and in 2008 it was renamed to reflect its involvement in instrumentation and controls. Today, the HFICD has more than 800 members. Currently chaired by Mehdi Tadjalli, chief engineering director for Enercon, the HFICD focuses on the human component of nuclear technology, along with the underlying instrumentation, control, and human- machine interface technologies that support the safe operation of nuclear facilities. These technol- ogies include sensors that transduce physical processes into signals; monitoring, control, and communica- tions systems that process data into information; the interfaces that display plant operational information; and the human cognitive capabilities that enable perception and interpretation of information. An ongoing challenge for HFIC professionals is personalizing control rooms for small modular reactors. According to Jamie Coble, associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee–Knox- ville and the program chair for NPIC&HMIT 2021, a question that needs to be answered is how to operate an SMR control room that does not need the same number of operators as a large nuclear plant. “From the human factors perspective, that’s a really big deal,” Coble said. “It’s a function of how to make sure that the right information is being presented to operators at the right time so that they can monitor and make decisions and have a global plant view instead of focusing on a single unit.” Coble noted that Ryan Flamand of NuScale Power is demonstrating NuScale’s proposed control room design as part of NPIC&HMIT’s technical program. Work on control room design is ongoing at Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Labora- tory, where investigations are being conducted into operator alert and support systems. Ronald Boring, human factors manager at INL, gave an example of recent human factors research cen- tered on computerized operator support systems, or COSS. “They are basically operator aids,” he said. “We are trying to marry operator aids with some form of artificial intelligence to help operators look ahead.” Working in conjunction with Richard Vilim, manager of the Plant Analysis and Control and Sensors Department at Argonne, Boring said that a prognostic technology called PRO-AID was developed that detects deviations in plant performance. The idea behind PRO- AID is to give operators an overview of what is happening at the plant, where a typical control room can have about 800 alarms. “We’re introducing technology that looks ahead and predicts what might go wrong,” he said. “One of the challenges from an operator perspective is that they’re already dealing with the realistic possibility that when a problem happens, there are multiple alarms going off, which we call floods or avalanches.” The new technology will allow operators to anticipate problems. “It’s almost like the collision avoidance system in an automobile,” Boring said. “It’s an early warning sys- tem concept.” Such is the challenging work of HFIC. I hope you