Human Factors and ergonomics’ contribution to the definition of a new concept of operations: The case of innovative small modular reactors

Abstract

Contributing to the earliest phases of design is an old challenge of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF&E) experts. If HF&E contributions to Basic Design and Detailed Design of Nuclear Power Plants is acknowledge, HF&E experts’ contributions to earlier phase of design like Conceptual Design or pre-conceptual design (PCD) are not frequent. Therefore, if participation of HF&E experts to the earliest phase of systems design is not new, up to our knowledge, there is no already described, validated and structured HF&E method to contribute to a pre-conceptual design (PCD) phase. The aim of the PCD phase is to prepare and address the scientific issues of a proposed new design. From an HF&E point of view, the scientific issues are related to the concept of operations envisioned for the new system. The paper presents the approach we are currently leading at EDF R&D during the PCD phase of the design of innovative small modular reactors (ISMR) in order to define its concept of operations. This approach is based on several methods we propose to articulate in order to contribute to fill the lack of described and validated HF&E method to contribute to PCD. The theoretical foundations of our approach are based on work analyses in reference work situations [1] and operational analysis [2]. The paper describes each step of the approach developed and the organizational conditions for the participation of HF&E experts into PCD.