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Title: Optimizing human reliability: Mock-up and simulation techniques in waste management

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7186331

With the new mission at Rocky Flats to decontaminate and decommission a 40-year old nuclear weapons production facility comes many interesting new challenges for human factors engineering. Because the goal at Rocky Flats is to transform the environment, the workforce that undertakes this mission will find themselves in a state of constant change, as they respond to ever-changing task demands in a constantly evolving work place. In order to achieve the flexibility necessary under these circumstances and still maintain control of human reliability issues that exist in a hazardous, radioactive work environment, Rocky Flats developed an Engineering Mock-up and Simulation Lab to plan, design, test, and train personnel for new tasks involving hazardous materials. This presentation will describe how this laboratory is used to develop equipment, tools, work processes, and procedures to optimize human reliability concerns in the operational environment. We will discuss a particular instance in which a glovebag, large enough to house two individuals, was developed at this laboratory to protect the workers as they cleaned fissile material from building ventilation duct systems.

Research Organization:
EG and G Rocky Flats, Inc., Golden, CO (United States). Rocky Flats Plant
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC34-90DP62349
OSTI ID:
7186331
Report Number(s):
RFP-4630; CONF-930408-1; ON: DE92041156
Resource Relation:
Conference: International high-level radioactive waste management conference, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 25-29 Apr 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English