Smart Documents
2.1 Vision and Problem Statement
Operator performance—and ultimately plant performance—may be improved by significant advancements in how procedure usage is achieved with new technologies. Plans to upgrade existing plants with digital equipment and wireless technology present an opportunity to enhance procedures by transforming the existing PBPs to CBPs.
|
2.2 Problem Statement and Hypothesis
Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusant.
|
Skill ThreeSed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusant.
|
Computer-Based Procedures for Field Workers in the Nuclear Power Plant: Development of a Model of Procedure Usage and Identification of Requirements.
This research effort is a part of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, which is a research and development (R&D) program sponsored by the Department of Energy, performed in close collaboration with industry research and developments programs, to provide the technical foundations for licensing and managing the long-term, safe and economical operation of current nuclear power plants. Most currently operating nuclear power plants will soon begin reaching the end of their 60-year operating licenses granted by the United States (US) Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If these plants do not operate beyond 60 years, the total fraction of generated electrical energy from nuclear power will begin to decline - even with the modest addition of new nuclear generating capacity. The LWRS Program serves to help the US nuclear industry adopt new technologies and engineering solutions that facilitate the continued safe operation of the plants and extension of the current operating licenses.
With advances in nuclear power plant (NPP) design, the current fleet of nuclear plants will be soon competing with new reactors both in terms of efficiency and attracting the available workforce. While the current fleet is installing technological upgrades to their systems, the fact remains that they will remain less technologically advanced as the newly built plants. However, by introducing new technical solutions in the current fleet the gap between the old and new plants can be reduced. The effort to bridge this gap between the current fleet and new plants is an important step in the mitigation of workforce loss to new plants. One step in this process is to phase out the paper-based procedures (PBPs) that are currently used at most nuclear power plants and to replace them with computer-based procedures (CBPs). Before such an extensive replacement effort is conducted, there are many underlying research issues that need to be investigated and resolved, especially in the fields of human factors and human-machine interaction. Most of the existing research focuses on CBPs for new and highly integrated systems. This research can be difficult to adapt to the current fleet since there are different challenges involved when CBPs are to be incorporated into existing systems. The goal for this research effort is to define requirements for CBPs that will ensure that the CBPs will be an improvement compared to current PBPs. The research effort does not focus on how to display PBPs on an electronic device. Instead, the focus is to evaluate how to streamline and distill the information in the paper-based procedure in order to increase efficiency, improve the ease of use, and reduce opportunities for errors. During the course of the research effort‘s first year a series of activities will be conducted. These include a literature review, a qualitative study; a user needs survey, and an evaluation study. The main objectives for the first year of the present research effort are to:
1. Determine the challenges utilities are having with current PBP systems,
2. Identify requirements for CBPs for field procedures,
3. Develop a prototype CBPs system based on the requirements identified,
4. Evaluate the CBP prototype, and
5. Define an industry-wide vision and path forward for CBP deployment.
With advances in nuclear power plant (NPP) design, the current fleet of nuclear plants will be soon competing with new reactors both in terms of efficiency and attracting the available workforce. While the current fleet is installing technological upgrades to their systems, the fact remains that they will remain less technologically advanced as the newly built plants. However, by introducing new technical solutions in the current fleet the gap between the old and new plants can be reduced. The effort to bridge this gap between the current fleet and new plants is an important step in the mitigation of workforce loss to new plants. One step in this process is to phase out the paper-based procedures (PBPs) that are currently used at most nuclear power plants and to replace them with computer-based procedures (CBPs). Before such an extensive replacement effort is conducted, there are many underlying research issues that need to be investigated and resolved, especially in the fields of human factors and human-machine interaction. Most of the existing research focuses on CBPs for new and highly integrated systems. This research can be difficult to adapt to the current fleet since there are different challenges involved when CBPs are to be incorporated into existing systems. The goal for this research effort is to define requirements for CBPs that will ensure that the CBPs will be an improvement compared to current PBPs. The research effort does not focus on how to display PBPs on an electronic device. Instead, the focus is to evaluate how to streamline and distill the information in the paper-based procedure in order to increase efficiency, improve the ease of use, and reduce opportunities for errors. During the course of the research effort‘s first year a series of activities will be conducted. These include a literature review, a qualitative study; a user needs survey, and an evaluation study. The main objectives for the first year of the present research effort are to:
1. Determine the challenges utilities are having with current PBP systems,
2. Identify requirements for CBPs for field procedures,
3. Develop a prototype CBPs system based on the requirements identified,
4. Evaluate the CBP prototype, and
5. Define an industry-wide vision and path forward for CBP deployment.
Video Based Procedures
|
|
|