ABSTRACT
This chapter presents various aspects of human factors and human error in nuclear power plant maintenance. It covers the study of human factors in power plant maintenance; elements relating to human performance that can contribute to an effective maintenance program in nuclear power plants; useful human factors methods to assess and improve nuclear power plant maintainability; nuclear power plant maintenance error–related facts, figures, and examples; causes of human error in nuclear power plant maintenance and maintenance tasks most susceptible to human error in nuclear power plants; digital plant protection systems maintenance tasks–related human errors; useful guidelines for human error reduction and prevention in nuclear power plant maintenance; methods for performing maintenance error analysis in nuclear power plants; and problems.
Five useful human factors methods to assess and improve nuclear power plant maintainability are presented separately. These are structured interviews, task analysis, surveys, potential accident/damage analysis, and critical incident technique. Similarly, three methods for performing maintenance error analysis in nuclear power plants are presented separately. These are the Markov method, fault tree analysis, and maintenance personnel performance simulation (MAPPS) model.
There are 10 problems at the end of the chapter to test the reader's comprehension in the area, and sources of most of the material presented in the chapter are given in its reference section.
