Abstract:
Research reactor managers are increasingly implementing improvements in their management of safety through the application of good practices originally developed as power reactor programs. This paper considers ways to select practices to emulate, effectively incorporate them into a research reactor program and evaluate their contribution to safety.
Relative to research reactors, power reactor programs look relatively homogeneous when considering source terms, stored energy, core power density, operating cycles, plant systems and staff sizes. They have potential hazard consequences that require effective safety management programs. Finally, power reactors generate a stream of revenue to fund these programs. The power reactor community has combined their resources with the homogeneity of their challenge to create impressive safety management tools, many of which can be effectively implemented in the research reactor community. However, not all programs can be effectively implemented in all research reactors.
A number of power reactor programs are analyzed in the paper with consideration of their effective implementation and potential contribution to research reactor safety.