Justifications of policy-error correction: a case study of error correction in the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5700778

Kim, Y P

The sensational Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Accident of 1979 raised many policy problems. Since the TMI accident, many authorities in the nation, including the President's Commission on TMI, Congress, GAO, as well as NRC, have researched lessons and recommended various corrective measures for the improvement of nuclear regulatory policy. As an effort to translate the recommendations into effective actions, the NRC developed the TMI Action Plan. How sound are these corrective actions. The NRC approach to the TMI Action Plan is justifiable to the extent that decisions were reached by procedures to reduce the effects of judgmental bias. Major findings from the NRC's effort to justify the corrective actions include: (A) The deficiencies and errors in the operations at the Three Mile Island Plant were not defined through a process of comprehensive analysis. (B) Instead, problems were identified pragmatically and segmentally, through empirical investigations. These problems tended to take one of two forms - determinate problems subject to regulatory correction on the basis of available causal knowledge, and indeterminate problems solved by interim rules plus continuing study. The information to justify the solution was adjusted to the problem characteristics. (C) Finally, uncertainty in the determinate problems was resolved by seeking more causal information, while efforts to resolve indeterminate problems relied upon collective judgment and a consensus rule governing decisions about interim resolutions.

• Research Organization: Indiana Univ., Bloomington (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5700778
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
ACCIDENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
ERRORS
HUMAN FACTORS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PLANNING
POWER PLANTS
POWER REACTORS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTORS
REGULATIONS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMAL REACTORS
THREE MILE ISLAND-2 REACTOR
US NRC
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS