Absorbing Neutrons, Shaping Time
Boron and gadolinium do not produce energy in a reactor. They help define the conditions under which energy can be produced safely, predictably, and over time.
Reconstructing the Cooling Tower
A natural-draft cooling tower is easy to recognize from a distance. Understanding it is something else. This article follows the reconstruction of a cooling tower beyond its familiar silhouette, toward the internal logic of water distribution, airflow, evaporation, access, and heat rejection.
Operator Error Is Not the Whole Story
Operator error is often used as a simple explanation for failure. In complex technical systems, it should not close the analysis. It should open a deeper question: what made the action possible, likely, or difficult to recover from?
Reconstructing an SMR RPV from the Inside Out
A documentation-driven reconstruction of a NuScale-style SMR reactor pressure vessel, developed from internal volume and system topology toward upper internals, CRA and ICI penetrations, CRDM housing interfaces, feedwater geometry, and containment vessel constraints.
From Pressure Vessel to Integrated System
In an integral SMR design, the reactor pressure vessel is not only a pressure boundary around the core. It becomes a compact system architecture where core geometry, steam generation, pressurizer volume, natural circulation and passive safety functions are closely connected.
Human Factors in Nuclear Safety
Human factors engineering is not about blaming operators. It is about designing technical systems, procedures, interfaces, training and organizational conditions around how people actually perceive, decide, communicate and act.
When Documentation Becomes Space
A documentation-driven reconstruction of a NuScale-style SMR core, focused on the spatial relationship between fuel assemblies, control rod assemblies, in-core instrumentation, upper core structures, and the wider logic of compact reactor architecture.
Safety by Design: The Logic Behind Nuclear Systems
Nuclear systems are not designed around optimism. They are designed around credible failure, conservative margins, physical feedback, redundancy, and verified safety functions. Safety is not treated as a promise, but as a documented property of the system.
In my experience, some of the kindest, most principled people I’ve known were engineers. Their empathy showed through responsibility, precision, and care, not through public emotion.
Nina Lovišček
The Reconstruction Began at the Grid
A documentation-driven reconstruction of a NuScale-style 17×17 SMR fuel assembly, developed from HMP/HTP spacer grids toward the complete assembly and compared with a standard Westinghouse 17×17 PWR fuel assembly.