Framework for evaluating the impact of environmental conditions on manual actions

Abstract

Ensuring successful protection from and mitigation of external floods at nuclear power plants (NPPs) has received increasing attention in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident. Following the incident, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) required all operating U.S. NPPs to identify nonconforming conditions and to verify the adequacy of monitoring and response procedures. Additional NRC initiatives aim to ensure that manual actions, i.e. actions taken outside of the main control room for flood protection and mitigation, are both feasible and reliable. We developed a framework to identify the key components and relationships required for an analytical approach or model to assess the impacts of environmental conditions (ECs) on the ability of individuals to perform flood protection and mitigation manual actions.