NPP operator support systems: state of art and development prospects
The growing interest in the subject of NPP operator support systems (OSS) inspired us to prepare an analytical review which is described in the present article. The following systemic principles are proposed as a result from this review. The aim of NPP OSS is to prevent or decrease frequency and importance of operators' errors. In order to achieve this aim OSS should perform four operator support functions, namely: facilitation of situation awareness, assistance in adequate estimation of situation, assistance in planning of reaction and prevention of errors when performing actions. Performance of the functions is ensured by execution of support tasks, such as step-by-step representation of operating procedures, operators' attentional control, etc. Six criteria for categorization of NPP OSS are proposed, namely: way of realization, covered part of NPP, type of support, type of task, task execution phase to be supported and relevance to operational mode. Currently, two types of operator support are used, namely intellectual and information support. Safety parameters display system, alarm processing and presentation system and computerized procedure system can be attributed to the first group. The second group comprises overview display, task-based display and function-oriented display. The following trends of NPP OSS development became apparent: risk estimation and accident management systems, overall diagnosis and operational mode supervision systems, ecological interface design and information rich design. The proposed systematization enables to identify the most effective operator support functions depending of NPP operational mode. These functions are oriented to the AES-2006 type of NPP as well as to the set of operational procedures available for MCR operators and to functionality of power unit I&C system.