Development of Human Factors Validation System for the Advanced Control Room of APR1400

Abstract

A human factors validation system for the main control room (MCR) of Advanced Power Reactor 1400 MWe (APR1400) has been developed as it adopts digitalized human-system interfaces (HSIs). The integrated validation system is composed of process/plant models, HSIs, and the human performance evaluation support system (HUPESS). A real-time thermal-hydraulic code, RELAP5 R/T, was used and modified to simulate the dynamic characteristics of the APR1400, and simulation software, 3KeyMaster, was used to model the balance of plant systems. The HSIs developed in this study include all facilities in the APR1400 MCR, such as large display panels, 3 identified operator workstations, and a safety console. In addition, the remote shutdown workstation has been developed. The display systems in the HSIs have been developed using ProcSee, which is a software tool for developing and displaying dynamic graphical user interfaces. This paper describes the configurations of HSIs including display systems, the dynamic models of the APR1400 simulator, the instructor station, and the HUPESS. This paper also presents the results of plant simulation performance tests at transient compared with the results of RELAP5/ MOD3.3 calculations. The human factors validation system for the advanced control room of APR1400 provides high degrees of physical, functional, and dynamic fidelities, and can be used in the validation process of the APR1400 HSI design.

Design-related influencing factors of the computerized procedure system for inclusion into human reliability analysis of the advanced control room

“…5.2 of the combustion engineering (CE) type NPPs [17,19]. As an illustration of the CPS used in the experiment, a part of the diagnosis procedure, also called the standard post trip action (SPTA)-02, of the CPS, which has the same structure as that of the EOG CEN-152, Rev.…”

“…Major design factors of the CPS have been chosen based on a literature review and experimental observations during the human factors verification and validation (HF V&V) experiments for the computer-based control room using the full-scope simulator [16,17]. This study also evaluates the relative importance between selected design factors using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique [18], in order to identify which design factors are how much important than any others.…”

Human Error Mode Identification for NPP Main Control Room Operations Using Soft Controls

“…9) In order to control a device, an operator searches an appropriate screen including the target device, selects the device, and executes an operation on the pop-up window for the control in the advanced MCR.…”

“…For example, the soft controls for safety class components and nonsafety class components were designed using different or independent input devices in the MCR of APR1400. 9) For nonsafety components, control actions are performed by selection and clicking on the monitoring screens using a mouse. However, control actions of safety components need the manipulations of touch screen devices on independent control panels.…”

“…1. 9) In advanced MCRs, the operation environment has considerably changed compared with that of conventional MCRs. In this changed environment, there are many differences in the ways of monitoring the plant status, how to perform operations for a plant, and even how to communicate with other operators.…”