December 1999 Highlight

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Czech Republic

VUJE specialists demonstrate computerized system for project data collection

Progress on the human reliability analysis project under way at Bohunice NPP was the topic of a mid-December meeting in Trnava, Czech Republic. Project participants from Bohunice NPP and the Nuclear Power Plants Research Institute Trnava, Inc. (VUJE) held discussions at VUJE facilities with their U.S. technology integrator on the data collection effort for the project.

To open the meeting, VUJE representatives demonstrated the computerized data collection system that VUJE developed for the project. The system consists of a Microsoft Access program that incorporates all current revised emergency operating instructions, the scenarios to be evaluated, and an instructor interface. The program is capable of generating a unique file for each data collection session. The results then can be exported to a Microsoft Excel file for comparison of crew performance and identification of common faults across all evaluated crews. This information subsequently can be used to identify common causes for the faults; the system includes a mechanism to notify the responsible group. Plant operations, training, and procedures managers all have been provided feedback from the initial session. Perhaps the most impressive feature of this program is the synchronization of parameters in the plant computer with the program, which provides real-time plant response showing the impact of improper or delayed operator action. This information is available to the crews immediately following the evaluation session.

The VUJE representatives then reviewed the results of the initial data collection session and discussed the need to perform one additional session to ensure that enough data are available for analysis. Those data will be collected during the next crew retraining period, which commences January 10. In addition, the host-country representatives indicated willingness to support secondary technology transfer efforts to other countries operating Soviet-designed reactors, including Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. team is exploring that possibility. (Walter Pasedag, DOE, 301-903-3628; Thomas Vehec, PNNL, 509-372-4072)