How does a change in the control room design affect diagnostic strategies in nuclear power plants?

Abstract

Recently, main control rooms have been considerably changed by modern computer techniques. Some of the features that distinguish digital control rooms from conventional, analog rooms in nuclear power plants include advanced alarm systems, graphic information display systems, computerized procedure systems, and soft control. These features can bring changes in operator tasks, changing the characteristics of tasks or creating new tasks for operators. It is especially expected that these features may bring out changes in the operator's diagnostic tasks and strategies in a digital control room as compared with an analog control room. This study investigates the differences in the operator's diagnostic tasks and strategies in analog and digital control rooms. This study also attempts to evaluate how new systems in a digital control room affect diagnostic strategies. Three different approaches, which are complementary, are used to identify diagnostic strategies in the digital control room and in the analog control room: (1) observation in the simulator, (2) interview with operators, and (3) a literature review. The results show that the digital control room introduces new diagnosis strategies compared with the analog control room while also changing the characteristics of the strategies, mostly by gaining more support from the computerized system.

A framework for the application of standards, recommendations, and research on large screen displays in the function of new control rooms design

“…In French nuclear power plants, there are a substantial number of LSDs installed to monitor the entire technological process 1 . Nuclear power plants in South Korea containing Advanced Light Water (APR‐1400) Reactors are equipped with LSDs 2 . Large screen displays are used in the control room for the Indian advanced heavy water reactor 3,4 and the control rooms for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactors in nuclear power plants in China and the United States 5 .…”

Recent activities in the field of NPP I&C and human factor

“…Although AMCR offers various operation support systems utilizing computers, large screen displays and individual terminals, human reliability * Email: shimoda@energy.kyoto-u.ac.jp analysis in emergency situations is necessary from the viewpoint of human factors. Comparing with conventional main control room, fault diagnosis strategy or human error mode in AMCR may be different and their research studies have being progressed and reported [9][10][11][12].…”