System dynamics: An introduction & applications to the nuclear industry
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)
The field of nuclear technology has been developing for over 50 years and has moved from the laboratory into a very large commercial industry. The growth in the underlying science and engineering has been remarkable both in its breadth and depth. The ability to design, analyze, and understand the behavior of nuclear plants is firmly established. There remain many challenging technical problems, but success of the industry is not contingent upon solving those technical problems. Rather, the success of the industry will be determined by a wider array of concerns than pure technology. For instance, nuclear plants in the future will have to compete economically against efficient, versatile, and reliable fossil technologies. In addition, potential users must be assured that the indirect costs, such as those of environmental effects and waste disposal, are acceptable. Finally, public perceptions about risks must somehow be allayed, if not resolved. The objective of this paper is to provide an introduction to a tool that may be useful to the industry in addressing the types of issues suggested above. The tool discussed is system dynamics. It has been used with considerable success in many other fields in ways that are similar to the needs of the nuclear field. In the second section of the paper the authors provide some background on the system dynamics method and illustrate how system dynamics models are constructed. In section 3 they discuss two applications in the nuclear field, the first relating to construction of nuclear plants and the second in the operation of a nuclear utility in the social/political environment of today in the United States. They conclude with some summary comments.
- OSTI ID:
- 447506
- Journal Information:
- Advances in Nuclear Science and Technology, Vol. 24; Other Information: PBD: 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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