Human Factors Guidance for Control Room Evaluation

1994

Advancedcontrol rooms will use advancedhuman-systeminterface(HSI) technologies thatmay have significant implications for plant safety in that they will affect the operator's overall role in the system, the method of informationpresentation,andthe ways in which operatorsinteractwith the system. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the HSI aspects of control rooms to ensure that they are designed to good humanfactors engineeringprinciplesand that operatorperformance and reliability are appropriately supported to protect public health and safety. The principal guidance availableto the NRC, however, was developedmore than ten years ago, well before these technological changes. Accordingly, the human factorsguidance needs to be updatedto serve as the basis for NRC review of these advanced designs. The purpose of this project was to develop a general approach to advanced H$1 review and the human factors guidelines to support NRC safety reviews of advanced systems. This two-volume report provides the results of the project. Volume 1 describes the development of the Advanced HSI Design Review Guideline (DRG) including (1) its theoretical and technicalfoundation, (2) a general model for the review of advanced HSIs, (3) guideline development in both hard-copyand computer-basedversions, and (4) the tests and evaluationsperformed to develop and validate the DRG. Volume 1 also includes a discussion of the gaps in available guidance and a methodology for addressingthem. Volume 2 providesthe guidelinesto be used for advancedHSIreview and the proceduresfor their use.

Proceedings of the IEEE 7th Conference on Human Factors and Power Plants

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the human factors engineering (HFE) aspects of nuclear plants. NUREG-0800 (Standard Review Plan), Chapter 18, "Human Factors Engineering," is the principal NRC staff guidance document. Two main documents provide the review criteria to support the evaluations. The HFE Program Review Model (NUREG-0711) addresses the design process from planning to verification and validation to design implementation. The Human-System Interface Design Review Guidelines (NUREG-0700) provides the guidelines for the review of the HFE aspects of human-system interface technology, such as alarms, information systems, controls, and control room design. Since these documents were published in 1994 and 1996 respectively, they have been used by NRC staff, contractors, nuclear industry organizations, as well as by numerous organizations outside the nuclear industry. Using feedback from users and NRC research conducted in recent years, both documents have been revised and updated. This was done to ensure that they remain state-of-the-art evaluation tools for changing nuclear industry issues and emerging technologies. This paper describes the methodology used to revise and update the documents and summarizes the changes made to each and their current contents. Index Terms-Control system human factors, Ergonomics, Human factors, Nuclear power generation safety. I. BACKGROUND uclear power plant (NPP) personnel play a vital role in the productive, efficient, and safe generation of electric The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is sponsoring this research.

2004

Operators of nuclear power plants face a significant challenge designing and modifying control rooms that will be produced at various stages of instrumentation and control modernization. This report provides guidance on planning, specifying, designing, implementing, operating, maintaining, and training for modernized control rooms and digital human-system interfaces. Much of the guidance also will support new plant control rooms. This report also presents detailed information and guidelines on specific technologies such as information display systems, soft controls, alarms, and computer-based procedures. A significant challenge facing plants and system designers is incorporating good human factors engineering and meeting human performance goals with hybrid (part analog and part digital) and full digital control rooms produced at various stages of I&C modernization. Careful design of human-system interfaces (HSIs) incorporating digital technology and integrating these interfaces into control rooms can allow personnel to accomplish their tasks more effectively. Tasks include process and equipment monitoring, fault detection and diagnosis, situation assessment, and response planning and execution. Results can be reduced human errors, improved performance, and, thus, enhanced plant safety and improved availability, reliability, and efficiency. To help nuclear power plant operators and suppliers plan, specify, design, implement, operate, maintain, and train for the modernization of control rooms and other HSI in a way that takes advantage of digital system and HSI technologies, reflects practical constraints associated with modernizing existing control rooms and I&C systems, and addresses issues concerning hybrid and fully digital control room HSI. Supported by a working group of utility and industry representatives, the project team developed 31 guidelines and the technical bases for them. Each guideline was developed by part of the development team, then reviewed and commented on by the entire team. After these comments were resolved, the guidelines were sent to the entire working group for additional peer review and comments. When this process was complete, the guideline is considered ready for use. Additional feedback as guidelines are applied will be used later to enhance the guidelines. Working-group plants farthest along in I&C modernization provided input on major issues and stumbling blocks faced in planning control room and HSI changes. Additional related inputs came from lessons learned at plants with completed modernization projects. Regulators provided input on regulatory requirements and expectations related to modernized control rooms. Vendors and other industry representatives provided input on design approaches and control room issues. vi This report provides the guidance and technical bases that will help plant operators, suppliers, and supporting third parties 1) plan changes to main control rooms and HSIs that address obsolescence issues and the need for new capabilities and 2) meet plant goals of improved availability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness while meeting Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) safety requirements. These guidelines are on 31 topics grouped in the areas of 1) control room modernization planning to help utilities develop plant-specific plans (for example, endpoint definition, human factors engineering program -including a methodology for a graded effort approach), 2) human factors engineering design analyses and tools with most of these including what is needed to be done under the graded effort approach (for example, function analysis and allocation, task analysis, HSI and procedure design), 3) detailed human factors engineering guidelines including design principles, checklists, and additional information sources for designers (for example, information display systems, soft controls, alarms, computer-based procedures), 4) regulatory and licensing activities (for example, regulatory requirements and expectations, engineering evaluations related to licensing), and 5) special topics related to operations and maintenance (for example, training considerations unique to digital I&C modernization programs, safety monitoring and control in modernized control rooms). These guidelines and technical bases will be the main support for utilities as they modernize control rooms, HSIs, and I&C systems. Much of the guidance also will support new plant control rooms and HSI. The document's primary use will be as a reference that is accessed and used when specific needs arise such as guidance for computer-based procedures. It is not anticipated the document will be read from cover to cover. Thus, when users are in a specific section of interest, the document contains extensive electronic cross-referencing to related sections in other parts of the document. The full promise of reducing human errors and increasing plant and human performance may not be achieved unless the specification, design, implementation, operation, maintenance, and training for new digital systems and HSIs take into account human cognitive aspects. This project has developed necessary guidelines and technical bases to support these areas. Guidance is of five types: 1) control room modernization planning, 2) human factors engineering design analyses and tools, 3) detailed human factors engineering guidelines, 4) regulatory and licensing activities, and 5) special topics related to operations and maintenance. The project's overall aim is to support operational requirements of power plants while improving their availability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness and meeting NRC safety requirements. This report provides guidance that is useful for operating plants that are modernizing control rooms and HSI, and for new plant designs. Related EPRI reports are Nuclear Power Plant Control Room Modernization Planning (1003569), Technical Material for a Workshop on Control Room Upgrades (1007795), Information Display Considerations for Designing Modern Computer-Based Display Systems (1002830), and Alarm Processing Methods: Improving Alarm Management in Nuclear Power Plant Control Rooms (1003662). This report greatly extends and replaces Interim Human Factors Guidance for Hybrid Control Rooms (1003696).

NES 2017 Conference "Joy at work", 2017

Many design decisions must be made and repeatedly evaluated during the development process to form a nuclear power plant control room system that supports safe operation. The purpose of this paper is to compare utilised approaches to evaluate nuclear power plant control room systems and explore how they relate to design decisions at different levels of specificity. The method used was a review of academic literature. The result showed that evaluation of more specific design decisions is largely addressed. However, there is a need to further develop methodologies and methods for formative evaluation of more general design decisions to support assessment earlier in the development process.

PsycEXTRA Dataset

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the human factors engineering (HFE) programs of applicants for nuclear power plant construction permits, operating licenses, standard design certifications, and combined operating licenses. The purpose of these safety reviews is to help ensure that personnel performance and reliability are appropriately supported. Detailed design review procedures and guidance for the evaluations is provided in three key documents: the Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800), the HFE Program Review Model (NUREG-0711), and the Human-System Interface Design Review Guidelines (NUREG-0700). These documents were last revised in 2007, 2004 and 2002, respectively. The NRC is committed to the periodic update and improvement of the guidance to ensure that it remains a stateof-the-art design evaluation tool. To this end, the NRC is updating its guidance to stay current with recent research on human performance, advances in HFE methods and tools, and new technology being employed in plant and control room design. This paper describes the role of HFE guidelines in the safety review process and the content of the key HFE guidelines used. Then we will present the methodology used to develop HFE guidance and update these documents, and describe the current status of the update program.