Human Performance in Small Modular Reactors

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Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) offer significant promise for meeting Canada's clean energy needs. Human Factors Engineering is a mandated process that ensures that operating crews have the knowledge, skills, and tools to safely operate nuclear facilities. Currently, the knowledge base regarding human factors implications and challenges of SMRs is thin. The proposed project seeks to address that gap and support SMR developers and regulators in ensuring that SMRs provide Canadians with safe, clean, and reliable energy. We are proposing a three-year research program to establish a novel human factors in SMR research capability in Canada, create new knowledge about the human factors implications of SMRs, disseminate that knowledge to Canadian companies and government agencies, and train highly qualified engineers to work in the Canadian nuclear sector. Using a microworld simulator developed by Idaho National Laboratory, we will conduct experiments on the human performance implications of operator work in highly automated SMR control rooms. We will explore the impacts of computer-based operating procedures on operator task performance, situation awareness, and workload. We will also study the challenges of operating multiple reactors in parallel. Finally, we will perform a statistical meta-analysis of the effects of varying the degree to which plant functions are automated. The findings from these studies will be disseminated to SMR developers, government agencies, other researchers, and the public. The project will support the training of highly qualified personnel, including two PhD students, a post-doctoral fellow, and multiple undergraduate students. Emphasis is given to recruiting scholars from under-repressented groups in the energy sector, including women and people of colour. These trainees will have the opportunity to work and study in a rich learning environment, with collaborators who are subject-matters experts in nuclear power.