OPERATOR-BASED METRIC FOR NUCLEAR OPERATIONS AUTOMATION ASSESSMENT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I EFFORT IS TO DEVELOP, IMPLEMENT, AND EVALUATE AN OPERATOR-BASED METRIC FOR ASSESSING FUTURE CONTROL ROOM AUTOMATION SYSTEMS FOR COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR PLANT OPERATIONS. THE FOCUS WILL BE ON AUTOMATION'S IMPACT ON OPERATOR UNDERLOAD AND SITUATION AWARENESS (SA). THE APPROACH COMBINES AN OPERATOR/SYSTEM BEHAVIORAL REPRESENTATION IMPLEMENTEDIN SOFTWARE, WITH A PROCEDURAL METHOD TO SUPPORT ITERATIVE EVALUATION OF AUTOMATION OPTIONS. THE BEHAVIORAL REPRESENTATION FORMALIZES A NUMBER OF COMPONENT OPERATOR FUNCTIONS INCLUDING DATA FUSION, SITUATION ASSESSMENT, DECISION-MAKING, AND PROCEDURE EXECUTION. THE SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION WILL MAKE USE OF A HYBRID DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT WHICH COMBINES OBJECT- ORIENTED SIMULATION CONSTRUCTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING WITH AN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK (ANN) REPRESENTATION OF OPERATOR SA AND A KNOWLEDGE-BASED EXPERT SYSTEM (ES) MODEL OF OPERATOR DESCISION-MAKING. WE PROPOSED A THREE TASK EFFORT. WE WILL: 1) DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A PROTOTYPE MODEL AND METRIC, SPECIALIZED TO COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR PLANT MONITORING; 2) DEMONSTRATE PROTOTYPE USE IN EVALUATING SELECTED AUTOMATION OPTIONS; AND 3) SPECIFY REQUIREMENTS FOR FULL- SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE PROTOTYPE METRIC.