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Title: DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS FOR ADVANCED SMRs: THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Abstract

Advanced small modular reactors (AdvSMRs) will use advanced digital instrumentation and control systems, and make greater use of automation. These advances not only pose technical and operational challenges, but will inevitably have an effect on the operating and maintenance (O&M) cost of new plants. However, there is much uncertainty about the impact of AdvSMR designs on operational and human factors considerations, such as workload, situation awareness, human reliability, staffing levels, and the appropriate allocation of functions between the crew and various automated plant systems. Existing human factors and systems engineering design standards and methodologies are not current in terms of human interaction requirements for dynamic automated systems and are no longer suitable for the analysis of evolving operational concepts. New models and guidance for operational concepts for complex socio-technical systems need to adopt a state-of-the-art approach such as Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) that gives due consideration to the role of personnel. This approach we report on helps to identify and evaluate human challenges related to non-traditional concepts of operations. A framework - defining operational strategies was developed based on the operational analysis of Argonne National Laboratory’s Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II), a small (20MWe) sodium-cooled reactor that was successfully operated formore » thirty years. Insights from the application of the systematic application of the methodology and its utility are reviewed and arguments for the formal adoption of CSE as a value-added part of the Systems Engineering process are presented.« less

Authors:
;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
DOE - NE
OSTI Identifier:
1148999
Report Number(s):
INL/CON-13-30737
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC07-05ID14517
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: ASME SMR Symposium,Washington DC,04/15/2014,04/17/2014
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; Advanced Small Modular Reactor; Cognitive Systems Engineergin; Cognitive Work Analysis; Human Factors Engineering; Systems Engineering

Citation Formats

Hugo, Jacques, and Gertman, David. DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS FOR ADVANCED SMRs: THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING. United States: N. p., 2014. Web.
Hugo, Jacques, & Gertman, David. DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS FOR ADVANCED SMRs: THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING. United States.
Hugo, Jacques, and Gertman, David. 2014. "DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS FOR ADVANCED SMRs: THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1148999.
@article{osti_1148999,
title = {DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS FOR ADVANCED SMRs: THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING},
author = {Hugo, Jacques and Gertman, David},
abstractNote = {Advanced small modular reactors (AdvSMRs) will use advanced digital instrumentation and control systems, and make greater use of automation. These advances not only pose technical and operational challenges, but will inevitably have an effect on the operating and maintenance (O&M) cost of new plants. However, there is much uncertainty about the impact of AdvSMR designs on operational and human factors considerations, such as workload, situation awareness, human reliability, staffing levels, and the appropriate allocation of functions between the crew and various automated plant systems. Existing human factors and systems engineering design standards and methodologies are not current in terms of human interaction requirements for dynamic automated systems and are no longer suitable for the analysis of evolving operational concepts. New models and guidance for operational concepts for complex socio-technical systems need to adopt a state-of-the-art approach such as Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) that gives due consideration to the role of personnel. This approach we report on helps to identify and evaluate human challenges related to non-traditional concepts of operations. A framework - defining operational strategies was developed based on the operational analysis of Argonne National Laboratory’s Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II), a small (20MWe) sodium-cooled reactor that was successfully operated for thirty years. Insights from the application of the systematic application of the methodology and its utility are reviewed and arguments for the formal adoption of CSE as a value-added part of the Systems Engineering process are presented.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1148999}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}

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