Design of Advanced Graphical Displays for the Turbine-generator Systems of the Forsmark 3 Simulator

Abstract

As new technologies are introduced into the nuclear industry, there is increasing interest in replacing existing hardwired monitoring systems in nuclear power plant control rooms with innovative human-machine interface (HMI) graphical displays. However, investigations into past accidents at nuclear generating facilities have identified human performance limitations arising from HMI design as one of the most important factors in plant safety. Ecological Interface Design (EID) is a design methodology for HMI graphical displays that attempts to support operator performance for both anticipated and unanticipated events, which are often precursors to serious accidents. The University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto are collaborating with the Norwegian Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to examine the application of EID in the Swedish Forsmark 3 boiling water reactor nuclear power plant. This paper focuses on the design of advanced graphical displays for the turbine-generator systems.