skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Baseline Human Factors and Ergonomics in Support of Control Room Modernization at Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract

As part of control room modernization at a nuclear power plant, a utility should carefully follow the four phases prescribed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in NUREG-0711, Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model. These four phases include Planning and Analysis, Design, Verification and Validation, and Implementation and Operation. While NUREG-0711 is a useful guideline, it is written primarily from the perspective of regulatory review, and it therefore does not provide a nuanced account of many of the steps the utility might undertake as part of control room modernization. The guideline is largely summative—meant to catalog final products—rather than formative—meant to guide the overall modernization process. In this report, we highlight two crucial formative subelements of the Planning and Analysis phase specific to control room modernization that are not covered in NUREG-0711. These two subelements are the usability and ergonomics baseline evaluations. A baseline evaluation entails evaluating the system as-built and currently in use. The usability baseline evaluation provides key insights into operator performance using the control system currently in place. The ergonomic baseline evaluation identifies possible deficiencies in the physical configuration of the control system. Both baseline evaluations feed into the design of the replacement system and help ensuremore » that control room modernization represents the successful evolution of the control system.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
OSTI Identifier:
1484247
Report Number(s):
INL/EXT-14-33223-Rev000
DOE Contract Number:  
AC07-05ID14517
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS; human factors; ergonomics; baseline; benchmark; formative; summative; NUREG-0711; control room modernization

Citation Formats

Boring, Ronald, and Joe, Jeffrey. Baseline Human Factors and Ergonomics in Support of Control Room Modernization at Nuclear Power Plants. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.2172/1484247.
Boring, Ronald, & Joe, Jeffrey. Baseline Human Factors and Ergonomics in Support of Control Room Modernization at Nuclear Power Plants. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1484247
Boring, Ronald, and Joe, Jeffrey. 2014. "Baseline Human Factors and Ergonomics in Support of Control Room Modernization at Nuclear Power Plants". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1484247. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1484247.
@article{osti_1484247,
title = {Baseline Human Factors and Ergonomics in Support of Control Room Modernization at Nuclear Power Plants},
author = {Boring, Ronald and Joe, Jeffrey},
abstractNote = {As part of control room modernization at a nuclear power plant, a utility should carefully follow the four phases prescribed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in NUREG-0711, Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model. These four phases include Planning and Analysis, Design, Verification and Validation, and Implementation and Operation. While NUREG-0711 is a useful guideline, it is written primarily from the perspective of regulatory review, and it therefore does not provide a nuanced account of many of the steps the utility might undertake as part of control room modernization. The guideline is largely summative—meant to catalog final products—rather than formative—meant to guide the overall modernization process. In this report, we highlight two crucial formative subelements of the Planning and Analysis phase specific to control room modernization that are not covered in NUREG-0711. These two subelements are the usability and ergonomics baseline evaluations. A baseline evaluation entails evaluating the system as-built and currently in use. The usability baseline evaluation provides key insights into operator performance using the control system currently in place. The ergonomic baseline evaluation identifies possible deficiencies in the physical configuration of the control system. Both baseline evaluations feed into the design of the replacement system and help ensure that control room modernization represents the successful evolution of the control system.},
doi = {10.2172/1484247},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1484247}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}