Toward fully self-consistent simulation of the interaction of E-Clouds and beams with WARP-POSINST (open access)

Toward fully self-consistent simulation of the interaction of E-Clouds and beams with WARP-POSINST

To predict the evolution of electron clouds and their effect on the beam, the high energy physics community has relied so far on the complementary use of 'buildup' and 'single/multi-bunch instability' reduced descriptions. The former describes the evolution of electron clouds at a given location in the ring, or 'station', under the influence of prescribed beams and external fields [1], while the latter (sometimes also referred as the 'quasi-static' approximation [2]) follows the interaction between the beams and the electron clouds around the accelerator with prescribed initial distributions of electrons, assumed to be concentrated at a number of discrete 'stations' around the ring. Examples of single bunch instability codes include HEADTAIL [3], QuickPIC [4, 5], and PEHTS [6]. By contrast, a fully self-consistent approach, in which both the electron cloud and beam distributions evolve simultaneously under their mutual influence without any restriction on their relative motion, is required for modeling the interaction of high-intensity beams with electron clouds for heavy-ion beam-driven fusion and warm-dense matter science. This community has relied on the use of Particle-In-Cell (PIC) methods through the development and use of the WARP-POSINST code suite [1, 7, 8]. The development of novel numerical techniques (including adaptive mesh refinement, …
Date: April 9, 2012
Creator: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
System: The UNT Digital Library
2012 MOLECULAR AND IONIC CLUSTERS GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE, JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 3, 2012 (open access)

2012 MOLECULAR AND IONIC CLUSTERS GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE, JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 3, 2012

The Gordon Research Conference on 'Molecular and Ionic Clusters' focuses on clusters, which are the initial molecular species found in gases when condensation begins to occur. Condensation can take place solely from molecules interacting with each other, mostly at low temperatures, or when molecules condense around charged particles (electrons, protons, metal cations, molecular ions), producing ion molecule clusters. These clusters provide models for solvation, allow a pristine look at geometric as well as electronic structures of molecular complexes or matter in general, their interaction with radiation, their reactivity, their thermodynamic properties and, in particular, the related dynamics. This conference focuses on new ways to make clusters composed of different kinds of molecules, new experimental techniques to investigate the properties of the clusters and new theoretical methods with which to calculate the structures, dynamical motions and energetics of the clusters. Some of the main experimental methods employed include molecular beams, mass spectrometry, laser spectroscopy (from infrared to XUV; in the frequency as well as the time domain) and photoelectron spectroscopy. Techniques include laser absorption spectroscopy, laser induced fluorescence, resonance enhanced photoionization, mass-selected photodissociation, photofragment imaging, ZEKE photoelectron spectroscopy, etc. From the theoretical side, this conference highlights work on potential surfaces and …
Date: February 3, 2012
Creator: McCoy, Anne
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the $WZ$ Cross Section and Triple Gauge Couplings in $p \bar p$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV (open access)

Measurement of the $WZ$ Cross Section and Triple Gauge Couplings in $p \bar p$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV

This Letter describes the current most precise measurement of the WZ production cross section as well as limits on anomalous WWZ couplings at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV in proton-antiproton collisions. The WZ candidates are reconstructed from decays containing three charged leptons and missing energy from a neutrino, where the charged leptons are either electrons or muons. Using data collected by the CDF II detector (7.1 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity), 64 candidate events are observed with the expected background contributing 8 {+-} 1 events. The measured total cross section {sigma}(p{bar p} {yields} WZ) = 3.93{sub -0.53}{sup +0.60}(stat){sub -0.46}{sup +0.59}(syst) pb is in good agreement with the standard model prediction of 3.50 {+-} 0.21. The same sample is used to set limits on anomalous WWZ couplings.
Date: February 1, 2012
Creator: Aaltonen, T.; Alvarez Gonzalez, B.; Amerio, S.; Amidei, D.; Anastassov, A.; Annovi, A. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reversible Electron Beam Heating for Suppression of Micro bunching Instabilities at Free-Electron Lasers (open access)

Reversible Electron Beam Heating for Suppression of Micro bunching Instabilities at Free-Electron Lasers

The presence of microbunching instabilities due to the compression of high-brightness electron beams at existing and future x-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) results in restrictions on the attainable lasing performance and renders beam imaging with optical transition radiation impossible. The instability can be suppressed by introducing additional energy spread, i.e., heating the electron beam, as demonstrated by the successful operation of the laser heater system at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The increased energy spread is typically tolerable for self-amplified spontaneous emission FELs but limits the effectiveness of advanced FEL schemes such as seeding. In this paper, we present a reversible electron beam heating system based on two transverse deflecting radio-frequency structures (TDSs) upstream and downstream of a magnetic bunch compressor chicane. The additional energy spread is introduced in the first TDS, which suppresses the microbunching instability, and then is eliminated in the second TDS. We show the feasibility of the microbunching gain suppression based on calculations and simulations including the effects of coherent synchrotron radiation. Acceptable electron beam and radio-frequency jitter are identified, and inherent options for diagnostics and on-line monitoring of the electron beam's longitudinal phase space are discussed.
Date: May 30, 2012
Creator: Behrens, Christopher; Huang, Zhirong & Xiang, Dao
System: The UNT Digital Library
Combined upper limit on Standard Model Higgs boson production at CDF (open access)

Combined upper limit on Standard Model Higgs boson production at CDF

The Higgs boson is the only elementary particle predicted by the Standard Model (SM) that has neither been confirmed nor refuted. The CDF collaboration has performed SM Higgs searches in many channels using p{bar p} collisions at a centre-of-mass energy {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. We present the latest combined Higgs boson search at CDF. Since the previous year's combination, the sensitivity is increased through the addition of new channels, the improvement of existing channels and the addition of new data samples. We also use the latest parton distribution functions and gg {yields} H theoretical cross sections when modelling the signal event yields. Using integrated luminosities of up to 8.2 fb{sup -1}, we observe a good agreement between data and the background prediction. Since we do not see a Higgs boson excess, we set 95% CL upper limits on the Higgs boson cross section in the range between 100 and 200 GeV/c{sup 2}, with 5 GeV/c{sup 2} increments. The observed (expected) limits for a 115 and a 165 GeV/c{sup 2} Higgs boson are 1.55 (1.49) and 0.75 (0.79) x SM, respectively. Since last year, the Higgs boson excluded range by CDF is extended to 156.5 - 173.7 and 100 - 104.5 …
Date: February 1, 2012
Creator: Adrian, Buzatu
System: The UNT Digital Library
Combined Effects of Gravity, Bending Moment, Bearing Clearance, and Input Torque on Wind Turbine Planetary Gear Load Sharing: Preprint (open access)

Combined Effects of Gravity, Bending Moment, Bearing Clearance, and Input Torque on Wind Turbine Planetary Gear Load Sharing: Preprint

This computational work investigates planetary gear load sharing of three-mount suspension wind turbine gearboxes. A three dimensional multibody dynamic model is established, including gravity, bending moments, fluctuating mesh stiffness, nonlinear tooth contact, and bearing clearance. A flexible main shaft, planetary carrier, housing, and gear shafts are modeled using reduced degrees-of-freedom through modal compensation. This drivetrain model is validated against the experimental data of Gearbox Reliability Collaborative for gearbox internal loads. Planet load sharing is a combined effect of gravity, bending moment, bearing clearance, and input torque. Influences of each of these parameters and their combined effects on the resulting planet load sharing are investigated. Bending moments and gravity induce fundamental excitations in the rotating carrier frame, which can increase gearbox internal loads and disturb load sharing. Clearance in carrier bearings reduces the bearing load carrying capacity and thus the bending moment from the rotor can be transmitted into gear meshes. With bearing clearance, the bending moment can cause tooth micropitting and can induce planet bearing fatigue, leading to reduced gearbox life. Planet bearings are susceptible to skidding at low input torque.
Date: September 1, 2012
Creator: Guo, Y.; Keller, J. & LaCava, W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Extending the MC-SURE to Denoise Sensor Data Streams (open access)

Extending the MC-SURE to Denoise Sensor Data Streams

None
Date: August 3, 2012
Creator: Ndoye, M. & Kamath, C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Development and Test of a Single-Aperture 11 T Nb3Sn Demonstrator Dipole for LHC Upgrades. (open access)

Development and Test of a Single-Aperture 11 T Nb3Sn Demonstrator Dipole for LHC Upgrades.

The upgrade of the LHC collimation system expects installation of additional collimators in the dispersion suppressor areas around the LHC ring. The longitudinal space for the collimators could be provided by replacing some 8.33 T Nb-Ti LHC main dipoles with shorter 11 T Nb/sub 3/Sn dipoles compatible with the LHC lattice and main systems. To demonstrate this possibility FNAL and CERN have started a joint program with the goal of building a 5.5 m long twin-aperture dipole prototype suitable for installation in the LHC. The first step of this program is the development of a 2 m long single-aperture demonstrator dipole with the nominal field of 11 T at the LHC nominal current of 11.85 kA and 60 mm bore with ~20% margin. This paper describes the design, construction and test results of the first single-aperture Nb/sub 3/Sn demonstrator dipole model.
Date: October 1, 2012
Creator: Zlobin, A.V. & al., et
System: The UNT Digital Library
High-Penetration PV Deployment in the Arizona Public Service System, Phase 1 Update: Preprint (open access)

High-Penetration PV Deployment in the Arizona Public Service System, Phase 1 Update: Preprint

In an effort to better understand the impacts of high penetrations of photovoltaic generators on distribution systems, Arizona Public Service and its partners have begun work on a multi-year project to develop the tools and knowledge base needed to safely and reliably integrate high penetrations of utility- and residential-scale photovoltaics (PV). Building upon the APS Community Power Project -- Flagstaff Pilot, this project will analyze the impact of PV on a representative feeder in northeast Flagstaff. To quantify and catalog the effects of the estimated 1.3 MW of PV that will be installed on the feeder (both smaller units at homes as well as large, centrally located systems), high-speed weather and electrical data acquisition systems and digital 'smart' meters are being designed and installed to facilitate monitoring and to build and validate comprehensive, high-resolution models of the distribution system. These models will be used to analyze the impacts of the PV on distribution circuit protection systems (including anti-islanding), predict voltage regulation and phase balance issues, and develop volt/var control schemes. This paper continues from a paper presented at the 2011 IEEE PVSC conference that introduces the project and describes some of the preliminary consideration, as well as project plans and …
Date: June 1, 2012
Creator: Hambrick, J. & Narang, D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
First Beam Measurements with the LHC Synchrotron Light Monitors (open access)

First Beam Measurements with the LHC Synchrotron Light Monitors

The continuous monitoring of the transverse sizes of the beams in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) relies on the use of synchrotron radiation and intensified video cameras. Depending on the beam energy, different synchrotron light sources must be used. A dedicated superconducting undulator has been built for low beam energies (450 GeV to 1.5 TeV), while edge and centre radiation from a beam-separation dipole magnet are used respectively for intermediate and high energies (up to 7 TeV). The emitted visible photons are collected using a retractable mirror, which sends the light into an optical system adapted for acquisition using intensified CCD cameras. This paper presents the design of the imaging system, and compares the expected light intensity with measurements and the calculated spatial resolution with a cross calibration performed with the wire scanners. Upgrades and future plans are also discussed.
Date: July 13, 2012
Creator: Lefevre, Thibaut; Bravin, Enrico; Burtin, Gerard; Guerrero, Ana; Jeff, Adam; Rabiller, Aurelie et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
From Nucleons To Nuclei To Fusion Reactions (open access)

From Nucleons To Nuclei To Fusion Reactions

Nuclei are prototypes of many-body open quantum systems. Complex aggregates of protons and neutrons that interact through forces arising from quantum chromo-dynamics, nuclei exhibit both bound and unbound states, which can be strongly coupled. In this respect, one of the major challenges for computational nuclear physics, is to provide a unified description of structural and reaction properties of nuclei that is based on the fundamental underlying physics: the constituent nucleons and the realistic interactions among them. This requires a combination of innovative theoretical approaches and high-performance computing. In this contribution, we present one of such promising techniques, the ab initio no-core shell model/resonating-group method, and discuss applications to light nuclei scattering and fusion reactions that power stars and Earth-base fusion facilities.
Date: February 15, 2012
Creator: Quaglioni, S; Navratil, P; Roth, R & Horiuchi, W
System: The UNT Digital Library
Event-by-event study of photon observables in spontaneous and thermal fission (open access)

Event-by-event study of photon observables in spontaneous and thermal fission

None
Date: September 26, 2012
Creator: Vogt, R & Randrup, J
System: The UNT Digital Library
4 kW Test of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Stacks with Advanced Electrode-Supported Cells (open access)

4 kW Test of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Stacks with Advanced Electrode-Supported Cells

A new test stand has been developed at the Idaho National Laboratory for multi-kW testing of solid oxide electrolysis stacks. This test stand will initially be operated at the 4 KW scale. The 4 kW tests will include two 60-cell stacks operating in parallel in a single hot zone. The stacks are internally manifolded with an inverted-U flow pattern and an active area of 100 cm2 per cell. Process gases to and from the two stacks are distributed from common inlet/outlet tubing using a custom base manifold unit that also serves as the bottom current collector plate. The solid oxide cells incorporate a negative-electrode-supported multi-layer design with nickel-zirconia cermet negative electrodes, thin-film yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolytes, and multi-layer lanthanum ferrite-based positive electrodes. Treated metallic interconnects with integral flow channels separate the cells and electrode gases. Sealing is accomplished with compliant mica-glass seals. A spring-loaded test fixture is used for mechanical stack compression. Due to the power level and the large number of cells in the hot zone, process gas flow rates are high and heat recuperation is required to preheat the cold inlet gases upstream of the furnace. Heat recuperation is achieved by means of two inconel tube-in-tube counter-flow heat exchangers. …
Date: June 1, 2012
Creator: O'Brien, J. E.; Zhang, X.; Housley, G. K.; Moore-McAteer, L. & Tao, G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fiber Lasers X: Technology, Systems and Aplications (open access)

Fiber Lasers X: Technology, Systems and Aplications

None
Date: July 19, 2012
Creator: Drachenberg, D
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performance Characteristics of Hardware Transactional Memory for Molecular Dynamics Application on BlueGene/Q: Toward Efficient Multithreading Strategies for Large-Scale Scientific Applications (open access)

Performance Characteristics of Hardware Transactional Memory for Molecular Dynamics Application on BlueGene/Q: Toward Efficient Multithreading Strategies for Large-Scale Scientific Applications

None
Date: September 26, 2012
Creator: Kunaseth, M.; Kalia, R. K.; Nakano, A.; Vashishta, P.; Richards, D. F. & Glosli, J. N.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Safeguards-By-Design: Guidance and Tools for Stakeholders (open access)

Safeguards-By-Design: Guidance and Tools for Stakeholders

Effective implementation of the Safeguards-by-Design (SBD) approach can help meet the challenges of global nuclear energy growth, by designing facilities that have improved safeguardability and reduced safeguards-related life cycle costs. The ultimate goal of SBD is to implement effective and efficient safeguards that reduce the burden to both the facility operator and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Since 2008, the National Nuclear Security Administration's Next Generation Safeguards Initiative's Safeguards By Design Project has initiated multiple studies and workshops with industry and regulatory stakeholders, including the IAEA, to develop relevant documents to support the implementation of SBD. These 'Good Practices Guides' describe facility and process design features that will facilitate implementation of effective nuclear material safeguards starting in the earliest phases of design through to final design. These guides, which are in their final editorial stages, start at a high level and then narrow down to specific nuclear fuel cycle facilities such as Light Water Reactors, Generation III/IV Reactors, High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors, and Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plants. Most recently, NGSI has begun development of a facility safeguardability assessment toolkit to assist the designer. This paper will review the current status of these efforts, provide some examples of these documents, …
Date: February 1, 2012
Creator: Schanfein, Mark & Johnson, Shirley
System: The UNT Digital Library
Top differential cross section measurements (Tevatron) (open access)

Top differential cross section measurements (Tevatron)

Differential cross sections in the top quark sector measured at the Fermilab Tevatron collider are presented. CDF used 2.7 fb{sup -1} of data and measured the differential cross section as a function of the invariant mass of the t{bar t} system. The measurement shows good agreement with the standard model and furthermore is used to derive limits on the ratio {kappa}/M{sub Pl} for gravitons which decay to top quarks in the Randall-Sundrum model. D0 used 1.0 fb{sup -1} of data to measure the differential cross section as a function of the transverse momentum of the top-quark. The measurement shows a good agreement to the next-to-leading order perturbative QCD prediction and various other standard model predictions.
Date: January 1, 2012
Creator: Jung, Andreas W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Improved Neutronics Treatment of Burnable Poisons for the Prismatic HTR (open access)

Improved Neutronics Treatment of Burnable Poisons for the Prismatic HTR

In prismatic block High Temperature Reactors (HTR), highly absorbing material such a burnable poison (BP) cause local flux depressions and large gradients in the flux across the blocks which can be a challenge to capture accurately with traditional homogenization methods. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the error associated with spatial homogenization, spectral condensation and discretization and to highlight what is needed for improved neutronics treatments of burnable poisons for the prismatic HTR. A new triangular based mesh is designed to separate the BP regions from the fuel assembly. A set of packages including Serpent (Monte Carlo), Xuthos (1storder Sn), Pronghorn (diffusion), INSTANT (Pn) and RattleSnake (2ndorder Sn) is used for this study. The results from the deterministic calculations show that the cross sections generated directly in Serpent are not sufficient to accurately reproduce the reference Monte Carlo solution in all cases. The BP treatment produces good results, but this is mainly due to error cancellation. However, the Super Cell (SC) approach yields cross sections that are consistent with cross sections prepared on an “exact” full core calculation. In addition, very good agreement exists between the various deterministic transport and diffusion codes in both eigenvalue and power distributions. …
Date: October 1, 2012
Creator: Wang, Y.; Bingham, A. A.; Ortensi, J. & Permann, C. J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
PRESERVATION OF H2 PRODUCTION ACTIVITY IN NANOPOROUS LATEX COATINGS OF RHODOPSEUDOMONAS PALUSTRIS CGA009 DURING DRY STORAGE AT AMBIENT TEMPERATURES (open access)

PRESERVATION OF H2 PRODUCTION ACTIVITY IN NANOPOROUS LATEX COATINGS OF RHODOPSEUDOMONAS PALUSTRIS CGA009 DURING DRY STORAGE AT AMBIENT TEMPERATURES

To assess the applicability of latex cell coatings as an "off-the-shelf' biocatalyst, the effect of osmoprotectants, temperature, humidity and O{sub 2} on preservation of H{sub 2} production in Rhodopseudomonas palustris coatings was evaluated. Immediately following latex coating coalescence (24 h) and for up to 2 weeks of dry storage, rehydrated coatings containing different osmoprotectants displayed similar rates of H{sub 2} production. Beyond 2 weeks of storage, sorbitol- treated coatings lost all H{sub 2} production activity, whereas considerable H{sub 2} production was still detected in sucrose- and trehalose-stabilized coatings. The relative humidity level at which the coatings were stored had a significant impact on the recovery and subsequent rates of H{sub 2} production. After 4 weeks storage under air at 60% humidity, coatings produced only trace amounts of H{sub 2} (0-0.1% headspace accumulation), whereas those stored at <5% humidity retained 27-53% of their H{sub 2} production activity after 8 weeks of storage. When stored in argon at <5% humidity and room temperature, R. palustris coatings retained full H{sub 2} production activity for 3 months, implicating oxidative damage as a key factor limiting coating storage. Overall, the results demonstrate that biocatalytic latex coatings are an attractive cell immobilization platform for preservation of …
Date: August 27, 2012
Creator: Milliken, C.; Piskorska, M.; Soule, T.; Gosse, J.; Flickinger, M.; Smith, G. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analyzing the Deployment of Large Amounts of Offshore Wind to Design an Offshore Transmission Grid in the United States: Preprint (open access)

Analyzing the Deployment of Large Amounts of Offshore Wind to Design an Offshore Transmission Grid in the United States: Preprint

This paper revisits the results from the U.S. Department of Energy's '20% Wind Energy By 2030' study, which envisioned that 54 GW of offshore wind would be installed by said year. The analysis is conducted using the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS), a capacity expansion model developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The model is used to optimize the deployment of the 54 GW of wind capacity along the coasts and lakes of the United States. The graphical representation of the results through maps will be used to provide a qualitative description for planning and designing an offshore grid. ReEDS takes into account many factors in the process of siting offshore wind capacity, such as the quality of the resource, capital and O&M costs, interconnection costs, or variability metrics (wind capacity value, forecast error, expected curtailment). The effect of these metrics in the deployment of offshore wind will be analyzed through examples in the results.
Date: September 1, 2012
Creator: Ibanez, E.; Mai, T. & Coles, L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Real-structure effects: Band gaps of Mg_xZn_{1-x}O, Cd_xZn_{1-x}O, and n-type ZnO from ab-initio calculations (open access)

Real-structure effects: Band gaps of Mg_xZn_{1-x}O, Cd_xZn_{1-x}O, and n-type ZnO from ab-initio calculations

Many-body perturbation theory is applied to compute the quasiparticle electronic structures and the optical-absorption spectra (including excitonic effects) for several transparent conducting oxides. We discuss HSE+G{sub 0}W{sub 0} results for band structures, fundamental band gaps, and effective electron masses of MgO, ZnO, CdO, SnO{sub 2}, SnO, In{sub 2}O{sub 3}, and SiO{sub 2}. The Bethe-Salpeter equation is solved to account for excitonic effects in the calculation of the frequency-dependent absorption coefficients. We show that the HSE+G{sub 0}W{sub 0} approach and the solution of the Bethe-Salpeter equation are very well-suited to describe the electronic structure and the optical properties of various transparent conducting oxides in good agreement with experiment.
Date: February 15, 2012
Creator: Schleife, A & Bechstedt, F
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gearbox Reliability Collaborative: Test and Model Investigation of Sun Orbit and Planet Load Share in a Wind Turbine Gearbox; Preprint (open access)

Gearbox Reliability Collaborative: Test and Model Investigation of Sun Orbit and Planet Load Share in a Wind Turbine Gearbox; Preprint

This paper analyzes experimental measurement of the sun gear orbit in dynamometer testing and describes its relation to the other measured responses of the planetary stage. The relation of the sun orbit to component runout, component flexibility, gear coupling alignment, planet load share, and planet position error will be investigated. Equations describing the orbit of the sun gear in the test cases are derived. Rigid and flexible multibody models of the full gearbox are investigated and compared to sun and planet measurements. This paper shows that the sun gear's path may be influenced by gear coupling responses and gearbox structural flexibilities.
Date: April 1, 2012
Creator: LaCava, W.; Keller, J. & McNiff, B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Outdoor PV Module Degradation of Current-Voltage Parameters: Preprint (open access)

Outdoor PV Module Degradation of Current-Voltage Parameters: Preprint

Photovoltaic (PV) module degradation rate analysis quantifies the loss of PV power output over time and is useful for estimating the impact of degradation on the cost of energy. An understanding of the degradation of all current-voltage (I-V) parameters helps to determine the cause of the degradation and also gives useful information for the design of the system. This study reports on data collected from 12 distinct mono- and poly-crystalline modules deployed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. Most modules investigated showed < 0.5%/year decrease in maximum power due to short-circuit current decline.
Date: April 1, 2012
Creator: Smith, R. M.; Jordan, D. C. & Kurtz, S. R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Requirements for Computer Based-Procedures for Nuclear Power Plant Field Operators Results from a Qualitative Study (open access)

Requirements for Computer Based-Procedures for Nuclear Power Plant Field Operators Results from a Qualitative Study

Although computer-based procedures (CBPs) have been investigated as a way to enhance operator performance on procedural tasks in the nuclear industry for almost thirty years, they are not currently widely deployed at United States utilities. One of the barriers to the wide scale deployment of CBPs is the lack of operational experience with CBPs that could serve as a sound basis for justifying the use of CBPs for nuclear utilities. Utilities are hesitant to adopt CBPs because of concern over potential costs of implementation, and concern over regulatory approval. Regulators require a sound technical basis for the use of any procedure at the utilities; without operating experience to support the use CBPs, it is difficult to establish such a technical basis. In an effort to begin the process of developing a technical basis for CBPs, researchers at Idaho National Laboratory are partnering with industry to explore CBPs with the objective of defining requirements for CBPs and developing an industry-wide vision and path forward for the use of CBPs. This paper describes the results from a qualitative study aimed at defining requirements for CBPs to be used by field operators and maintenance technicians.
Date: May 1, 2012
Creator: Blanc, Katya Le & Oxstrand, Johanna
System: The UNT Digital Library