Systems-Theoretic Hazard Analysis of Digital Human-System Interface Relevant to Reactor Trip
Slides for 2021 ANS-NPIC-HMIT conference
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
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Human-System Interface Design Review Guidelines
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff reviews the human factors engineering (HFE) aspects of nuclear power plants in accordance with the Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800, Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition). The Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (NUREG-0711, Revision 3, issued November 2012) contains detailed design review procedures. As part of the review process, the interfaces between plant personnel and the plant's systems and components are evaluated for conformance with HFE guidelines. This document, Human-System Interface Design Review Guidelines (NUREG-0700, Revision 3), provides the guidelines necessary to perform this evaluation. The review guidelines address the physical and functional characteristics of human-system interfaces (HSIs). Because these guidelines only address the HFE aspects of design and not other related considerations, such as instrumentation and control and structural design, they are referred to as HFE guidelines. In addition to the review of actual HSIs, the NRC staff can use the NUREG-0700 guidelines to evaluate a design-specific HFE guidelines document or style guide. The HFE guidelines are organized into four basic parts, which are divided into sections. Part I contains guidelines for the basic HSI elements: information displays, user-interface interaction and management, and analog displays and controls. These elements are used as building blocks to develop HSI systems to serve specific functions. Part II contains the guidelines for reviewing the following HSI systems: alarm system, safety parameter display system, group-view display system, soft control system, computer-based procedure system, automation system, and communication system. Part III provides guidelines for the review of workstations and workplaces. Part IV provides guidelines for the review of HSI support (i.e., maintainability of digital systems and degraded HSI and instrumentation and control conditions).
42 ENGINEERING↗
Advanced Human-System Interface Risk Analysis Based on Redundancy-guided Systems-theoretic Hazard Analysis and Human Reliability Analysis
Human-system interfaces (HSIs) play an important role in enabling operators to communicate with the nuclear power plant (NPP) side. Getting the information required to understand a NPP’s current status or perform necessary actions for responding to a given operational context are representative operator tasks performed using HSIs. To date, HSIs have been mainly evaluated in the context of human reliability analysis (HRA). However, the current HSI evaluation that occurs during HRA may be challengeable on two fronts: (1) reflecting the unique characteristics of HSI systems and (2) considering situations in which HSIs are poorly operated due to software/hardware malfunctions. Accordingly, this study proposes an approach for specifically evaluating HSIs for digital instrumentation and controls (DI&C) systems, using Redundancy-guided Systems-theoretic Hazard Analysis (RESHA) and HRA. RESHA is a method for analyzing DI&C systems with redundancy features. In this study, we investigate how HSIs are evaluated in existing HRA methods, and what challenges exist in the current approaches. To better evaluate HSIs for DI&C systems, this study modifies the existing HSI evaluation process by additionally modeling the HSI back- and front- ends. In this paper, a HSI fault tree for the APR1400 DI&C system is introduced through a piping and instrumentation diagram. It then touches upon what aspects of the suggested method must be further researched.
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An Integrated Energy Systems Prototype Human-System Interface for a Steam Extraction Loop System to Support Joint Electricity-Hydrogen Flexible Operations
Due to increasing economic competition from renewables and combined-cycle natural gas plants, nuclear power plants are looking toward flexible operations to enhance their cost competitiveness. The Integrated Energy Systems project under the Light Water Reactor Sustainability program of the U.S. Department of Energy focuses on joint electricity-hydrogen flexible operations. Joint electricity-hydrogen flexible operations entail the nuclear power plant diverting thermal energy via main steam to a hydrogen production plant located nearby. The steam serves to enhance the efficiency of the hydrogen production. Furthermore, high temperature electrolysis requires a large amount of electricity, which the plant can also provide. The plant provides steam and electricity to the hydrogen plant throughout the day, but during peak demand hours the nuclear power plant returns to solely providing electricity to meet the high demand. Through this flexible concept of operations, the plant can optimize the thermal energy it produces without having to maneuver the power of the plant. This report documents the human factors process to design and develop a prototype human-system interface for the steam extraction loop that serves as the conduit between the nuclear power plant and the adjacent hydrogen plant. The design process followed the human factors guidelines set by NUREG-0711, Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (O’Hara, Higgins, & Fleger, 2012), and expanded upon by the Guideline for Operational Nuclear Usability and Knowledge Elicitation (GONUKE; Boring, Ulrich, Joe, & Lew, 2015; Boring, Lew, & Ulrich, 2016). The design process entailed operator interviews to determine the concept of operations for the steam extraction loop, a review and adaptation of digital interface design concepts developed by the team in prior projects, an iterative design process, and reviews conducted by both operators and human factors experts. Several versions of the prototype human-system interface were developed. Operators were interviewed to determine what design features they found useful and would like to see in the interface. The design underwent a review by human factors experts against NUREG-0700, Human Interface Design Review Guidelines (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2019), to ensure compliance with the latest human factors standards for digital interfaces in nuclear applications. The design was then prototyped as a functional windows-based application integrated with the Generic Pressurized Water Reactor simulator modified to include the steam extraction loop. The simulation is supported by the Human Systems Simulation Laboratory at Idaho National Laboratory, which supports operator-in-the-loop testing. This is an ongoing project and the next phase of the project entails performing an operator-in-the-loop usability study to evaluate the interface and examine the proposed concept of operations to extraction steam from the nuclear power plant for delivery to the coupled hydrogen production plant.
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Quantifying the Contribution of Individual Display Features on Mental Workload to Support Human-System Interface Design in Nuclear Power Plants
Abstract. The integration of new digital instrumentation and control (I&C) technologies like advanced human-system interfaces in U.S. nuclear power plant main control rooms is important for addressing long-term aging and obsolescence of existing I&C. Nonetheless, attention should be made to ensure these technologies reflect state-of-the-art human factors engineering (HFE) principles. Often, there is conflicting guidance from one guideline to another, requiring the analyst to make a judgment call on addressing these 'tradeoffs.' The objective of this research was to inform the analyst of these tradeoffs through an empirical investigation of how certain display features that characterize common HFE guidelines concerning visual clutter and saliency influence information processing in a naturalistic context. By understanding the unique contribution of each display feature using a multilevel model, the HFE analyst should have an understanding of the interrelations of each feature with its impact on cognitive processes. Results and implications are discussed in this paper.
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EXPLORING THE USE OF COGNITIVE MODELS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT HUMAN-SYSTEM INTERFACE EVALUATION
Much of the United States commercial nuclear power plant fleet is approaching the end of their operating licenses. To extend the life of these plants, advanced human-system interface (HSI) technologies are being researched to address aging and reliability concerns with the existing legacy instrumentation and controls. Human factors engineering (HFE) has a crucial role in ensuring these technologies are designed in a way that does not introduce new failure modes and promote optimal human-system performance. An important focus of HFE in NPP modernization is the early involvement to inform the design of the HSI. Here, traditional formative evaluations are done to collect design feedback. While these evaluations are absolutely useful, they are limited in providing convincing quantitative data for efficiency of use. This paper discusses the use of cognitive models to provide such quantitative data early in the HSI design process. A comparison of three open-source and readily accessible cognitive modeling tools are discussed.
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A NOVEL TOOL FOR IMPROVING THE DATA COLLECTION PROCESS DURING CONTROL ROOM MODERNIZATION HUMAN-SYSTEM INTERFACE TESTING AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is developing a scientific basis to extend the existing U.S. nuclear power plant (NPP) operating life beyond the current 60-year licensing period and to ensure NPP long-term reliability, productivity, safety, and security. Under the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) Systems Technologies pathway, the LWRS Program conducts targeted research and development to address long-term aging and obsolescence of existing instrumentation and control technologies, as well as to implement and test new digital II&C technology that enables broad innovation and business improvement in the NPP operating model. To this end, the role of human factors engineering (HFE) is important as part of ensuring that the control room modernization (CRM) activities account for the operator’s cognitive and physiological characteristics. Part of the HFE process for CRM entails conducting tests and evaluations (T&Es) that will inform the design of new human-system interface (HSI) technologies. Qualitative data that captures operator feedback and important human-system interactions are an important part of T&E. However, the analyzing this qualitative data in order to provide actionable design recommendations can be time-consuming and error prone. This paper presents an early version of a tool that can be used to analyze this qualitative data to (1) sift through freeform text for improved design issue identification, (2) maintain consistency in theme coding conventions, and (3) readily provide actionable design guidance that can be traceable to state-of-the-art HFE guidelines such as NUREG-0700. A description of this tool is discussed next.
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A novel tool for improving the data collection process during control room modernization human-system interface testing and evaluation activities - 271
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is developing a scientific basis to extend the existing U.S. nuclear power plant (NPP) operating life beyond the current 60-year licensing period and to ensure NPP long-term reliability, productivity, safety, and security. Under the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II and C) Systems Technologies pathway, the LWRS Program conducts targeted research and development to address long-term aging and obsolescence of existing instrumentation and control technologies, as well as to implement and test new digital II and C technology that enables broad innovation and business improvement in the NPP operating model. To this end, the role of human factors engineering (HFE) is important as part of ensuring that the control room modernization (CRM) activities account for the operator's cognitive and physiological characteristics. Part of the HFE process for CRM entails conducting tests and evaluations (T and Es) that will inform the design of new human-system interface (HSI) technologies. Qualitative data that captures operator feedback and important human-system interactions are an important part of T and E. However, the analyzing this qualitative data in order to provide actionable design recommendations can be time-consuming and error prone. This paper presents an early version of a tool, which uses a combination of natural language processing and supervised machine learning to support the analysis of qualitative data. The objectives of this tool is to improve the process of (1) sifting through freeform text for improved design issue identification, (2) maintaining consistency in theme coding conventions, and (3) readily providing actionable design guidance that can be traceable to state-of-the-art HFE guidelines such as NUREG-0700. (authors)
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
A Human Factors Evaluation of an Advanced Human System Interface for the Generic Pressurized Water Reactor Simulator
Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), funded by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, conducted a human factors evaluation of an Advanced Human System Interface (HSI) that colleagues at the Institute for Energy Technology developed for the generic Pressurized Water Reactor (gPWR) simulator. The gPWR simulator is based on an existing, currently operating, U.S. commercial nuclear power plant (NPP). Furthermore, INL has a relationship with this NPP that allows them to recruit operators to participate in their studies. INL also has a full-scope, full-scale simulator facility, called the Human Systems Simulation Laboratory, that hosts the gPWR simulator and allowed these researchers to compare human-system performance when operators used the existing/current gPWR HSI and the new Advanced HSI. As such, one goal of this work was to collect a baseline measure of human-system performance for the Advanced HSI and to identify areas to further improve the design of the Advanced HSI to optimize overall system usability. This paper summarizes the methodology used to perform this evaluation, which emphasized measuring key aspects of human-system performance and getting operator feedback on the design, aesthetics, and functionality of the Advanced HSI, and presents the key findings and insights gained.
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Study on main control room and human-system interface of generation III in China - 313
This paper focuses on the study on Main Control Room (MCR) and Human-System Interface (HSI) of Generation III in China. An intelligent HSI has been developed to enhance the safety and availability of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) by improving operational reliability. The key elements of the proposed HSI such as Advanced Alarm System, State Oriented Procedures (SOP), Large Display Panel (LDP), Computerized-base procedures..., that affects what information the operator sees or the system's response to a control input must be empirically evaluated to ensure that the new design does not compromise HSI effectiveness. Based on CPR1000's experience in China, this paper presents the approach used as well as the most relevant aspects of this kind of project for the next generation. This approach will be used in new Generation III nuclear power plant, and also used in modernizing I and C system in currently operative nuclear power plants, in addition to meeting safety requirements and the plant's operational requirements, to improve cost-effective plant and human performance and to reduce likelihood of human errors, to gain maximum benefit of the implemented technology and to increase the performance, resulting in improved plant safety, availability, reliability, and cost-effective operation. The proposed HSI has been validated and demonstrated using the CPR1000 simulator of National Key Laboratory. After sufficient validation, the characteristic design features of the proposed HSI will be reflected in the design of the main control room of the next generation reactors in China. (authors)
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
A method to select human-system interfaces for nuclear power plants
The new generation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) will likely make use of state-of-the-art technologies in many areas of the plant. The analysis, design, and selection of advanced human–system interfaces (HSIs) constitute an important part of power plant engineering. Designers need to consider the new capabilities afforded by these technologies in the context of current regulations and new operational concepts, which is why they need a more rigorous method by which to plan the introduction of advanced HSIs in NPP work areas. Much of current human factors research stops at the user interface and fails to provide a definitive process for integration of end user devices with instrumentation and control (I&C) and operational concepts. The current lack of a clear definition of HSI technology, including the process for integration, makes characterization and implementation of new and advanced HSIs difficult. This paper describes how new design concepts in the nuclear industry can be analyzed and how HSI technologies associated with new industrial processes might be considered. Furthermore, it also describes a basis for an understanding of human as well as technology characteristics that could be incorporated into a prioritization scheme for technology selection and deployment plans.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
A REVIEW OF HUMAN-SYSTEM INTERFACE DESIGN ISSUES OBSERVED DURING ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL AND DIGITAL-TO-DIGITAL MIGRATIONS IN U.S. NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program is developing a scientific basis through targeted research and development (R&D) to support the U.S. nuclear power plant (NPP) fleet in extending their existing licensing period and ensuring their long-term reliability, productivity, safety, and security. Over the last several years, human factors engineering (HFE) professionals at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have supported the LWRS Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) System Technologies pathway across several U.S. commercial NPPs in analog-to-digital migrations (i.e., turbine control systems) and digital-to-digital migrations (i.e., Safety Parameter Display System). These efforts have included in-depth human factors evaluation of proposed human-system interface (HSI) design concepts against established U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) design guidelines from NUREG-0700, Rev 2 to inform subsequent HSI design prior to transitioning into Verification and Validation. This paper discusses some of the overarching design issues observed from these past HFE evaluations. In addition, this work presents some observed challenges such as common tradeoffs utilities are likely to face when introducing new HSI technologies into NPP hybrid control rooms. The primary purpose of this work is to distill these observed design issues into general HSI design guidance that industry can use in early stages of HSI design.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
A Human Factors Engineering Process to Support Human-System Interface Design in Control Room Modernization
The primary objective of the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program is to sustain operation of the existing commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) through a multi-pathway approach in conducting research and development (R&D). The Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) System Technologies pathway conducts targeted R&D to address aging and reliability concerns with legacy instrumentation and control (I&C) and other information systems in existing U.S. NPPs. Control room modernization is an important part following this pathway, and human factors experts at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have been involved in conducting R&D to support migration of new digital main control room (MCR) technologies from legacy analog and legacy digital I&C. This paper describes a human factors engineering (HFE) process that supports human-system interface (HSI) design in MCR modernization activities, particularly with migration of old digital to new digital I&C. The process described in this work is an expansion from the LWRS Report INL/EXT-16-38576, and is a requirements-driven approach that aligns with NUREG-0711 requirements. The work described builds upon the existing literature by adding more detail around key tasks and decisions to make when transitioning from HSI Design into Verification and Validation (V&V). The overall objective of this process is to inform HSI design and elicit specific, measurable, and achievable human factors criteria for new digital technologies. Upon following this process, utilities should have greater confidence with transitioning from HSI design into V&V.
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A HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING PROCESS TO SUPPORT HUMAN-SYSTEM INTERFACE DESIGN IN CONTROL ROOM MODERNIZATION
The primary objective of the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program is to sustain operation of the existing commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) through a multi-pathway approach in conducting research and development (R&D). The Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control (II&C) System Technologies pathway conducts targeted R&D to address aging and reliability concerns with legacy instrumentation and control (I&C) and other information systems in existing U.S. NPPs. Control room modernization is an important part following this pathway, and human factors experts at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have been involved in conducting R&D to support migration of new digital main control room (MCR) technologies from legacy analog and legacy digital I&C. This paper describes a human factors engineering (HFE) process that supports human-system interface (HSI) design in MCR modernization activities, particularly with migration of old digital to new digital I&C. The process described in this work is an expansion from the LWRS Report INL/EXT-16-38576, and is a requirements-driven approach that aligns with NUREG-0711 requirements. The work described builds upon the existing literature by adding more detail around key tasks and decisions to make when transitioning from HSI Design into Verification and Validation (V&V). The overall objective of this process is to inform HSI design and elicit specific, measurable, and achievable human factors criteria for new digital technologies. Upon following this process, utilities should have greater confidence with transitioning from HSI design into V&V.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
Instrumentation, control, and human system interface contributions to historical severe accidents - 301
In 2015 EPRI completed a study of historical severe accidents. This study was intended to identify the lessons that these events had for instrumentation and control (I and C), and human systems interfaces (HSI) for nuclear power plants. The project studied 19 severe accidents that were identified by a parallel study that was underway for the International Atomic Energy Agency. I and C or HSI issues made significant contributions to 18 of the 19 events studied. This paper will summarize the I and C and HSI deficiencies that contributed to the propagation of the accidents, discuss the likely causes of these deficiencies and describe the role of I and C and HSI in finally terminating the events. (authors)
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
Visual Style Elements in Human–System Interface Design for Nuclear Power Operations: Does Style Affect Performance and Preference?
As the world increasingly adopts renewable and sustainable energy systems, transitionary solutions include nuclear power, which currently provides 20% of the United States’ electricity and is the largest single source of carbon-free electricity generation. Advanced reactors are a critical component of a carbon-free mixed energy portfolio that require careful design of first-of-a-kind control rooms. The application of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) is essential for scientific and iterative testing of novel human–system interface (HSI) concepts to ensure effective, efficient, and safe plant operations. Microworlds are simulators that use simplified physics models and control systems to distill nuclear power operations into essential functions. HFE scientists used the Rancor Microworld Simulator to obtain preference and performance metrics for novel and traditional static HSI design styles. Participants comprised advanced reactor company employees and nuclear industry consultants. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative data was captured. There was a preference for the basic graphical style that included high contrast and traditional color scheme elements. No single HSI design outperformed the others, and the participants did not perform better using their preferred HSI style. We report this experiment is the first in a series of HFE testing for HSIs in advanced reactor control room development. Clear user preferences emerged for elements within static displays. The cutting-edge neumorphic style was the least preferred. Future directions include tests of dynamic displays. HFE is used in evaluating and designing HSI devices that will improve the efficiency and safety of advanced nuclear power operations.
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Failure Mechanism Traceability and Application in Human System Interface of Nuclear Power Plants using RESHA
In recent years, there has been considerable effort to modernize existing and new nuclear power plants with digital instrumentation and control systems (DI&C). However, there has also been considerable concern both by industry and regulatory bodies for the risk and consequence analysis of these systems. Of particular concern are digital common cause failures (CCFs) specifically related to software defects. These “misbehaviors” by the software can occur in both the control and monitoring of a system. While many new methods have been proposed to identify potential software failure modes, such as Systems-theoretic Process Analysis (STPA), Hazard and Consequence Analysis for Digital Systems (HAZCADS), etc., these methods are focused primarily on the control action pathway of a system. In contrast, the information feedback pathway lacks unsafe control actions (UCAs), which are typically related to software basic events; thus, assessment of software basic events in such systems is unclear. In this work, we present the idea of intermediate processors and unsafe information flow (UIF) to help safety analysts trace failure mechanisms in the feedback pathway and how they can be integrated into a fault tree for improved assessment capability. The concepts presented are demonstrated in two comprehensive case studies, a smart sensor integrated platform for unmanned autonomous vehicles and another on a representative advanced human system interface (HSI) for safety critical plant monitoring. The qualitative software basic events are identified, and a fault tree analysis is conducted based on a modified Redundancy-guided Systems-theoretic Hazard Analysis (RESHA) methodology. The case studies demonstrate the use of UIF and intermediate processors in the fault tree to improve traceability of software failures in highly complex digital instrumentation feedback. The improved method can also clarify fault tree construction when multiple component dependencies are present in the system.
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗