Regulatory approach to enhanced human performance during accidents
It has become increasingly clear in recent years that the risk associated with nuclear power is driven by human performance. Although human errors have contributed heavily to the two core-melt events that have occurred at power reactors, effective performance during an event can also prevent a degraded situation from progressing to a more serious accident, as in the loss-of-feedwater event at Davis-Besse. Sensitivity studies in which human error rates for various categories of errors in a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) were varied confirm the importance of human performance. Moreover, these studies suggest that actions taken during an accident are at least as important as errors that occur prior to an initiating event. A program that will lead to enhanced accident management capabilities in the nuclear industry is being developed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and industry and is a key element in NRC's integration plan for closure of severe-accident issues. The focus of the accident management (AM) program is on human performance during accidents, with emphasis on in-plant response. The AM program extends the defense-in-depth principle to plant operating staff. The goal is to take advantage of existing plant equipment and operator skills and creativity to find ways to terminate accidents that are beyond the design basis. The purpose of this paper is to describe the NRC's objectives and approach in AM as well as to discuss several human performance issues that are central to AM.
- OSTI ID:
- 7088091
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-901101-; CODEN: TANSAO
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 62; Conference: American Nuclear Society (ANS) winter meeting, Washington, DC (United States), 11-16 Nov 1990; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTOR OPERATORS
TRAINING
HUMAN FACTORS
DECISION MAKING
EMERGENCY PLANS
EPRI
ERRORS
MITIGATION
PERFORMANCE
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR CORE DISRUPTION
REACTOR INSTRUMENTATION
REACTOR MONITORING SYSTEMS
REGULATIONS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RISK ASSESSMENT
US NRC
ACCIDENTS
ANIMALS
EDUCATION
MAMMALS
MAN
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PERSONNEL
POWER PLANTS
PRIMATES
SAFETY
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
US ORGANIZATIONS
VERTEBRATES
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
220400 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Control Systems