Abstract
The multi-module high temperature gas cooled reactor (MMHTGR) adopts the design of multiple reactor modules coupled to one steam turbine. The number of modules can be as much as six. According to staffing model of the preliminary stage, each reactor operator needs to monitor and control two modules, and each NSSS (nuclear steam supply system) module has the similar displays and operating procedures. The operation concept of the multi-module plant is different from single-module HTGR. Therefore, the human performance of operators in the multi-module HTGR need to be studied.
In order to verify the feasibility of one operator monitoring and controlling two NSSS modules under accident conditions, experiments are designed. During the experiment, a variety of accident scenarios are selected, including accidents in two or more modules. During the experiment, the operator will record the completion of the operator’s tasks. At the end of each experimental scenario, each operator is invited to fill in SART scale and NASA-TLX scale for measuring situation awareness and workload. The experimental results show that because the inherent safety of the HTGRs and a high degree of automation is conducive to the operation of the reactor, it is feasible for one operator to control and monitor the two modules under the accident condition. The correlation analysis shows that there is a strong negative correlation between the operator’s situation awareness and Demand use the SART scale. The workload of operators has a strong positive correlation between Mental and Temporal in the NASA-TLX scale. By improving the components of Demand, Temporal and Mental, operators’ workload can be reduced and situation awareness can be improved.
