Research in automation, risk analysis, control rooms and organisational factors;

Transcription

1 Research in automation, risk analysis, control rooms and organisational factors; applications to plant life management Shanghai, China, 17 October 2007 Björn Wahlström, J.J. Hämäläinen, J.-E. Holmberg, U. Pulkkinen, K. Simola, K. Juslin, L. Norros, H. Harju, T. Reiman, I. Karanta.

2 Electricity production and nuclear power in Finland Net Supplies of Electricity Nuclear power in Finland The Loviisa site two PWR units of the VVER type, which were taken into operation in the years 1979 and 1981 The Olkiluoto site two BWR units of the ABB type, which were taken into operation in the years 198 and 1982 one new unit of the EPR type under construction, which is expected to be in operation the year

3 A new nuclear power plant in Finland Reactor thermal output Net electric output Reactor operating pressure Main steam temperature Pressure vessel height Reactor core height Number of fuel assemblies Amount of uranium in reactor Number of control rods Containment height Containment width Containment wall thickness MW approx MW 154 bar 290 C 13 m 4,2 m tons UO m 49 m 2 m 3

4 VTT IN BRIEF employees 217 M turnover Knowledge Clusters: Digital Information Systems Telecommunications Microtechnologies and Sensors Materials and Building Industrial Systems Biotechnology Energy and Pulp&Paper 46 Knowledge Centres 9 Key Customer Sectors: Biotechnology, pharmaceutical and food industries Electronics Energy ICT Real estate and construction Machines and vehicles Transport and logistics Forest industry Process industry and environment 4

5 VTT Nuclear - continued competence building About 200 persons involved directly and indirectly VTT manages the SAFIR and FUSION-programmes and carries out most of the work in all the national research programmes Reactor safety SAFIR (~ 6.3 M /a) Nuclear waste management KYT (~ 1 M /a) Small compared to Posiva s programme Fusion technology FUSION (~ 3.5 M /a) Finnish contribution to Euratom fusion programme - ERA in operation! Regulatory research Regulatory inspections and reviews Mid-field national R&D-programmes KYT and SAFIR Safety case and licensing evidence Utility research 5

6 Organisation and management; challenges for the nuclear industry A generation change Competition on the market Search for effectiveness in work practices A high capacity factor Maintaining routines and competency Public confidence and trust The need for a balance Utilisation of new methods and knowledge Expectations on cheap electricity Plant life extensions A continued high safety Ageing plants Political and societal requirements 6

7 FACTORS VTT INFLUENCING TECHNICAL RESEARCH NUCLEAR CENTRE POWER PLANT OF FINLAND PERFORMANCE Good international and other information channels Educational system in the country Status of power engineering Plant autonomy and status, salaries General motivation climate positive Reasonable public acceptance Slow transients Morale, honesty the right to make errors Enough staff & healthy turnover Skilled leading group Ambitions and goals of plant staff Action on weak signals A practicable QA system Good housekeeping Industrial traditions Careful approach to nuclear safety "Scientific" study of disturbances High power replacement costs BASE Strong utility involvement in NE activities Outage minimisation Good communication between organisations involved Continuous plant improvement program Strong suppliers & support Strong inhouse support possible A TECHNICALLY HEALTHY AND PROVEN PLANT CONCEPT Safety authority strenght & competence 7 High-tech utilisation Solid utility economy and long-term commitment Union cooperation Adapted from A. Palmgren ENC'

8 Recent and ongoing research projects at VTT Risk-informed safety management Simulators for analysis, training and testing Development of control rooms Smart devices with embedded software Software qualification Management systems Organisational culture 8

9 Risk-informed safety management Rationale for the research an integration of deterministic and probabilistic views on different risks a better balance in safety precautions can be reached increased safety and decreased costs an easier licensing process PSA modelling issues related to plant operation and maintenance Human reliability with a focus on common cause failures Risk-informed in-service inspections Risk-informed management of fire situations Reliability estimation methods based on Bayesian Belief Networks Estimation of software reliability of programmable protection relay 9

10 Simulators for analysis, training and testing Rationale for the research the need for analysing proposed design solutions training of control room crews testing actual I&C systems before their installation Development of the multi-use simulation platform APROS the platform is a carrier of plant information from designers to users the plant model can be built by interconnecting library objects the models should be accurate enough to enable analysis and testing the models should run in real-time on affordable computers The APROS platform has been used for many different purposes nuclear plant analysers to training simulators design and testing for the I&C modernisation of the Loviisa NPP in use at more than 100 sites all world around by plant manufacturers, plant users, regulatory authorities, and universities 10

11 Three levels of model specification in APROS Process level Pressure vessel Process component level Reactor channel Fuel assembly Elementary components Calculation level branches, nodes, structures, sources Power Fuel temperature Coolant temperature Coolant density Void fraction Boric acid conc. Thermal Neutronics Heat Hydraulic nodes structures nodes 11

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13 Development of control rooms Rationale for the research control room design was identified as one of the root causes in the TMI accident an on-going transfer from analog to digital control rooms support for the division of tasks between operators and automation An identification of important factors that influence the usability of control rooms Assessment of proposed control rooms designs the Loviisa NPP the new unit in Olkiluoto Support of the licensing process 13

14 Contextual Assessment of Systems Usability Modelling Core-Task Functional Situation Models & Information models Definition and selection of measures and criteria of good practice Data Collection Orientation interview Observation of working with the tools + SPTI Process recording Data analysis Chronological Analysis of actions Analysis of work practices Analysis of experienced appropriateness of the system Assessment of Systems Usability Process results (parameter values etc.) Practice profiles (fulfilment of core-task demands) Identification of sufficient support for good practice Number, type and severity of interface problems Assessment based on process measures Assessment based on ability to promote good practice Assessment based on interface features 14

15 Smart devices with embedded software Rationale for the research the transfer from analog to digital I&C the licensing of COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) devices an increasing functionality of smart devices such as time relays, simple protection devices, smart transmitters, alarm units, etc. The need for arriving at a generic methodology for assessments Guidance for the creation of a safety case claims, evidence, arguments, inference a layered approach, traceability requirements, design for assessments Methodologies for assessing the use of COTS in I&C availability of source code reverse engineering 15

16 Software qualification Rationale for the research the need to demonstrate functionality of software identify persistent errors in high-quality software assess the efficiency of error management methods for different types of software errors applicability of available standards Development of a new approach for clssifying software errors syntactic, semantic, pragmatic the proposed semiotic classification has been validated using incidents involving software errors Creation of guidance for design of software to be used in highreliability applications 16

17 Management systems Rationale for the research the management system can be seen as the software of the organisation what requirements should be placed on management systems IAEA has created new guidance documents for management systems A continuation of EU-research connected to organisation and management, which consisted of an identification of organisational factors in nuclear safety challenges that senior NPP managers see facilitators and hindrances to organisational learning Development of training courses in safety management Creating a development perspective in processes for design reviews 17

18 Organisational culture Rationale for the research organisational culture influences individual actions and behaviour safety culture is an important subcomponent of organisational culture many recent incidents and accidents have been blamed on a deficient safety culture Development of methodologies for assessing key components of organisational culture characteristics of work (complexity, quality demands) external influences (regulation, public opinion, competition, suppliers) structure (organisation, practices, competence, tools) internal integration (climate, norms, tensions, rites, communication and interaction patterns) conceptions concerning core task, organisation, safety and effectiveness Application of the methodology to different organisations 18

19 Contextual Assessment of Organisational Culture Objective of the work Characteristics of the object of work (e.g. complexity, technical reliability) External influences (e.g. regulation, public opinion, competition, suppliers Organizational core task Way of responding to the perceived core task demands influences the core task Sets constraints and requirements for activity Organizational culture Structure (e.g. organizing of work, practices, official organizational structures, competence of personnel, tools) Internal integration (e.g. climate, norms, tensions, rites, communication and interaction patterns) Conceptions concerning the organizational core task, organization, safety, effectiveness 19

20 Conclusions PLiM should cover a broad range of areas and competencies Only a successful balance between all areas can ensure successful operations over the life-time of a NPP R&D is an important part of the activities that aim at improving and maintaining safety of nuclear power The research in the areas of automation, risk analysis, control rooms and organisational factors at VTT has proved to give an efficient system base for areas important for PLiM Publicly funded research has provided a neutral platform for cooperation among major stakeholders in Finland A technical support organisation (TSO) is a major asset for the nuclear power programme in a country 20