Guidance on Including Social, Organizational and Technical Influences in Nuclear Utility and Plant Modernization Plans

Abstract

The objective of this report is to provide the nuclear power industry with guidance on including socio-technical issues in plans developed for current and future modernization efforts. Socio-technical issues of concern include social, organizational, and related technical aspects of modernized systems. These can be addressed using a set of systematic analysis and design methods developed to address socio-technical issues of the sort facing the nuclear power industry. The next phase of this work will involve developing and implementing a modernization plan that includes socio-technical tools and methods identified and discussed in a report by Dainoff and colleagues (2020). The plan is expected to be developed and implemented in cooperation with a nuclear utility that has expressed interest in participating. The Dainoff et al. report provides the foundation for the present effort and presents a methodological tool set for analyzing socio-technical issues applicable to many modernization efforts. The tools described by Dainoff et al. are based on principles of human factors engineering, safety engineering, and systems engineering and are discussed within the specific context of nuclear utility modernization and transformation efforts. It is expected that the plan and the concepts described in the current report will be developed and implemented with a nuclear utility partner. The plan developed with the nuclear utility partner will have a substantially higher level of detail than the guidance provided in this report, particularly with regard to details of plan logistics, etc.

Optimizing Information Automation Using a New Method Based on System-Theoretic Process Analysis: Tool Development and Method Evaluation

“…Rail, nuclear Read et al ( 2019) Hettinger et al (2020) Comprehensibility and usability of human-system interfaces…”

Development of an Assessment Methodology That Enables the Nuclear Industry to Evaluate Adoption of Advanced Automation

“…This report provides guidance on applying methods described in INL/EXT-20-57908 to address the sociotechnical issues for current and future modernization efforts (Hettinger et al 2020). The methods include considerations of factors or staffing, job, and personnel requirements along with the development of enabling technical, management, and procedural support focused on an effective integration of people, technology, processes, and governance (PTPG).…”

“…As seen in Table 11, the first principles used to inform the new-state vision and concept of operations can be applied in detail during design by referencing the detailed guidance that comprise the principle. A final point worth mentioning is that the use of CWA may enhance the application of HFE first principles through the application of Ecological Interface Design (EID), which can be leveraged through the work domain analysis (Section 5.6.2.1) phase (e.g., Stanton et al 2017;Burns and Hajdukiewicz 2017;Hettinger et al 2020). EID takes the approach that system users must make decisions within the work domain (Burns and Hajdukiewicz 2017).…”