ML19350C424
| ML19350C424 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/11/1980 |
| From: | Collins P Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19350C423 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8104010509 | |
| Download: ML19350C424 (12) | |
Text
-
PROPOSED CHANGES IN USE OF TRAINING SIMULATORS
,9 E
f-BY P. F. Collins 2
- 'h Q
b INTRODUCTION The first use of simulators was brought about to enable the large number of trainees that were entering the nuclear industry to obtain the necesiary operating experience without using an operating nuclear power plant as a training facility.
The General Electric Company proposed that a nuclear power plant simulator be incorporated in a training program to provide trainees with the necessary control manipulation to meet eligibility requirements for cold examination.
Hence, we have the first introduction of full scope nuclear power plant simulators in operator training programs. Within a reasonable time, the other NSSS vendors Westinghouse, Babcock and Wilcox, and Combustion Engineering proposed training programs that used simulators.
We determined that individuals who successfully completed a training program-that utilized a nuclear plant simulator were considered eligible for cold examinations provided that they completed an appropriate course in
. nuclear technology fundamentals, manipulated the controls of any nuclear reactor throughout ten complete startups, and observed several months of daily operation of power reactors as members of shift operating crews.
The decision to' implement these procedures was based on several pertinent considerations, including (1) the completeness and accuracy with which the simulators are constructed; (2) the extent to which the simulators provide various types'of control. room experience to the trainee, including the ability 8104010 Soi
to simulate normal startup and shutdown operations and a multitude of casualty drill situations; and (3) the extent of operating experience of the simulator instructors.
To determine that the simulators met the requirements of (1) and (2) above, they were compared with the information in the Final Safety Analysis Report of the facility after which it was modeled and with detailed drawings of the facility's contrci room.
The comparison included the number of systems simulated, the degree of simulation, and the fidelity of simulation.
In addition, the number and type of malfunctions were evaluated as to their adequacy for the intended training purposes.
In addition, we observed the acceptance testing of the simulators at the vendor location and immediately prior to its use in training programs.
Finally, we examined several groups of applicants at the conclusion of their training program.
We were pleased with the response of the simulators to transients introduced, the realism of. the control rooms and the knowledge and under-standing of the applicants.
USE IN REQUALIFICATION PROGRAMS In 1973, the NRC issued reculations that required licensed individuals to participate in requalification programs as a condition for license renewal without reexamination.
One requirement of the program was that licensees must have manipulated the reactor controls through a least ten reactivity changes during the 2 year-tenure of their license.
Simulatcrs that reproduce the general operating characteristics of the facility involved and had an instrumentation and control arrangement similar to that of the facility 2
~.
involved could be used to meet the manipulation requirement of the regulation.
Therefore, we expanded the use of simulators in training programs.
USE FOR HOT EXAMINATIONS In order to be eligible to sit for an examination after a facility achieves criticality, an individual must receive on-the-job training that includes plant maneuvering and two reactor startups under the direct super-vision of a licensed operator or senior operator in addition to attending formal classroom training.
During the administration of the operating test, applicants must demonstrate their proficiency at the reactor controls by performing reactor startups from a substantially subcritical condition until generation of nuclear heat.
The startups can involve a substantial amount of downtime at a facility to properly prepare individuals for examinations and for administration of examinations.
In addition, scheduling of 'the examina-tions can be complicated by unexpected requirement for power, which is outside the control of the plant staff.
Therefore, in 1974 we determined that it was acceptable to use nuclear power plant simulators in determining the qualification of individuals who apply for licenses after initial criticality.
These training programs utilize appropriate nuclear power plant simulators for startup experience for meeting the eligibility requirements of examinations.
In addition, a reactor startup is not required as part of the operating test, providing that appropriate
~
certification regarding an individual's ability to manipulate the controls is contain2d in-his application.
Consequently, simulators were now approved for use in_all operator training programs.
However, the use of simulators:to meet
'NRC requirements for licensed operators and senior operators has been optional.
i 3
l l
GROWTH OF SIMULATORS IN THE U.S.
i Because simulators were approved for use in a variety of training i
programs, utilities started considering developing their own training centers that utilize nuclear power plant simulators.
Presently, there are twelve simulators in operation and fourteen more under contract.
Further, it is our understanding that almost all utilities that have operating plants are conducting studies to justify purchase of a simulator or are reviewing bids for a simulator.
PROPOSED CHANGES IN USE OF SIMULATORS The immediate reaction to the Accident at Three Mile Island was "the operator did it."
Later investigations and studies imply that a more accurate statement might be "we did it to the operater."
"We" in this case being the system designers, the control room designers, the educators and trainers, and those in NRC with responsibilities for reviewing training programs and examining operators.
Many reports have been written about the accident at TMI.
In each one, recommendations have been made r?garding the improvement of the qualifica-tions, education and training of individuals who operate nuclear power plants.
In July 1979 the NRR staff prepared a paper SECY-79-330E entitled, Qualification of Reactor Operators.
The paper made sixteen recommendations regarding improvements to the operator licensing program.
On November 27, 1979.the Commission had approved the staff's recommendations subject to their modifications.
4
.a m
---nr w,
r-,
Several recommendations of SECY-79-330E addressed use of simulators.
The recommendations approved by the Commission are:
1.
Establish requirements that simulators be used in training programs for hot applicants.
2.
NRC shall conduct all certification examinations at simulator training centers.
3.
Provide for periodic retraining and recertification on a simulator.
4.
Establish explicit requirements regrading exercises to be included in simulator requalification programs.
5.
NRC shall conduct all requalification examinations including recertification on a simulator.
6.
Applicants for operator and senior operator licenses shall be examined at a nuclear power plant simulator.
7.
Review and revise ANSI /ANS 3.5-1979, Nuclear Power Plant Simulators and develop on NRC Regulatory Guide that encloses the standard with appropriate changes.
Consequently, the use of simulators and the manner in which they are used will soon be mandatcry, rather than optional.
To this end, 10 CFR Part 55, Operators' Licensees is being revised.
EXAMINATIONS We have in the past used nuclear power plant simulators in administration of examinations.
However, our purpose was to be satisfied that the' training programs were effective as'well as to evaluate the competency of the individuals.
We now believe that examining an individual on a simulator is the best method to determine an individual's ability to manipulate centrols and to 5
evaluate his knowledge and understanding of normal, abnormal and emergency procedures and his understanding of plant response.
Therefore, the commission has determined to require simulator examinations for all applicants for licenses and that all licensees to be evaluated annually using a simulator in the requalification programs.
We realize that full implementation of the use of simulators in our examining process is dependent upon availability and suitability of the simulators and the the resources (number of examiners) available to NRC.
However, we do plan to start administering simulator examinations at facilities that have a simulator on site.
We also plan to develop appropriate examining techniques so that we may administer a meaningful examination to an applicant at a simulator that is not a duplicate of his control boards.
SIMULATOR IMPROVEMENTS SHORT TERM The NRC.is not only interested in the use of the simulators, but is also becoming more interested in the quality of the simulation.
Within one month after TMI we held a meeting with each of the simulator vendors, operators and potential operators to-determine what changes could be made to the simulators in a reasonably short time.
Included among thsse changes was the programming of the TMI accicent on PWR simulators.
Since operators will not benefit much from this approach of learning how to cope with an accident af ter it hip? ens, we also required that reprograncing take place that would provide for preprogrammed multiple failures and failures in engineered safeguards so that operators in training would be required to take actions, analyze and diagnose what is happening.
We~also requested that each 6
1 4
owner review their preprogrammed casualties to assure that they reflected i
i i
actual operating history, We are complementing these efforts with an NRC sponsored comparison of preprogrammed casualties and LERs to determine what casualties should be preprogrammed.
ORNL has completed a study on this subject.
This is scheduled for publication shortly as ORNL/NUREG/TM-395 entitled, Nuclear Power Plant Simulators:
Their Use in Operator Training and Requalification.
Seven BWR i
simulators and thirteen PWR simulators were used for the study.
Previously licensed BWR and PWR senior operators reviewed 3000 License Event Reports and determined which of these events were preprogrammed on the applicable i
simulators.
Task 1.A.4 of the THI Action Plan calls for NRR and RES collaborate on a e
short-term study (ORNL Study) to collect and develop corrections for the presently identified weaknesses of training simulators.
The short-term objective is to establish and sustain a higher level of realism in the training of operators, including dealing with transients, where such gains can be quickly made.
In the ~ study, explicit consideration will be given to the programmatic views of Admiral H. G. Rickover in his statement to the Congress on May 24, 1979, and his amplifying remarks in his memorandum to Chairman Ahearne dated December 14, 1979.
Based on the results of the short-term described above, NRR will require that specific weakness are corrected in the simulators used to train licensed operators.
We are scheduled to issue requirements based on the study in September 1980.
7
LONG TERM REQUIREMENTS Task 1. A.4 of the TMI Action Plan also calls for:
1.
Research on training simulators.
Researcn studies will be performed to improve the use of simulators in training operators, develop guidance on the need for and nature of operator action during accidents, and gather data on operator performance.
Tasks include the following:
a.
Simulator capabilities:
The accident sequences in WASH-1400 and subsequent risk analyses will be reviewed to identify those combinations of equipment failures and operator errors that will be reproducible by simulators.
Advanced codes will be used to calculate the physical response of plant systems during these conditions to assure that the simulators properly represent these responses.
b.
Safety related operator action:
Operating experience will be reviewed to provide data on operator response time during actual and hypo-thetical accident conditions.
The tasks that test an operator's capability to recognize and cope with an accident situation will be analyzed.
Operator training programs will be reviewed with respect to the results of these analyses and training improvements will be recommended.
Explicit considera-tion will be g!ven to operator actuation of controls versus automatic actuation.
Recommendations will be developed relative to the degree of automation that should accompany the activation and operation of engineered safety features, as well as the resulting information display.
Consideration of loss-of power supply during a critical transient or accident-mitigation sequence will be included.
c.
Simulator experiments:
Experiments will be designed and conducted to determine operator error rates under controlled conditions.
This research car, yield quantitative results on the effectiveness of proposed 0
l
=
changes in information access ar.d display, improved diagnostics, corrective action aids, and improved control room design.
2.
Upgrade training simulator standards:
SD has prompted a review and updating of ANSI /ANS 3.5-1979, Nuclear Power Plant Simulators (this effort is currently under way).
3.
Regulatory guide on training simulators:
SD will issue a regulatory 4
guide for public comment endorsing ANS 3.5-1979.
Based on the results of the short-term study (item 1 above), public comment, research (item 2 above), the revised ANS-3.5, and the study of NRR-80-117, " Requirements for Operator Licensing," SD will revise and issue the regulatory guide for acceptability of nuclear power plant simulators for use in training programs.
SD will include procedures and criteria for testing simulators against the regulatory guide and consideration will be given to the need for full plant-specific simulators.
4.
Review simulators for conformance to criteria:
Simulator owners 1
wl11 be required to submit a report that indicates a plan for compliance with a regulatory guide.
Submittals from simulator owners will be reviewed and verified, through testing, to assure that the simulators conform to the regulatory guide or they utilize acceptable alternatives.
1 h.
Schedule:
1.
Research on training simulators:
The review of simulator capabilities will be initiated by May 1980, and will provide recommendations for sequences to be simulated as risk analyses and advanced codes become available.
Tasks analyzing the capability of an operator to respond to accident conditions will be completed by June 1981, and recommer.dations will be developed by September 1981.
Access to a simulator for experimental use will be developed by September 1981.
Access to a simulator for experimental 9
.~..
. ~..
use will be obtained by January 1981.
Experiments on the simulator will be designed by March 1981, and operator performance will be tested under controlled simulator conditions by December 1981.
2.
Upgrade training simulator standards:
The revision of ANSI /ANS
. Standard 3.5-1979 will be completed by December 1980.
3.
Regulatory guide on training simulators:
SD will issue a regulatory guide for comment by November 1980, and will issue the effective guide by September 1981.
4.
Review simulators for conformance to criteria:
Verification of simulator conformance will be initiated by July 1,1982.
The TMI Action Plan is being reviewed to determine what positions are applicable to near term construction permit (NTCP) applicants.
One area to be
- addressed involved simulators.
I.A.4.2-LONG-TERM SIMULATOR UPGRADING NTCP applicants will describe their program for providing simulator capability for their plants.
In addition, they will describe how they will assure that their proposed simulator will correctly model their control room.
LNTCP applicants will need to provide sufficient information to permit the staff to verify that they will have the necessary simulatory capability to carry out the actions _ described in this Action Plan.
NTCP applicants will submit, prior to the issuance of construction permits, a general discussion'of
.how the requirements will be met in order to provide reasonable assurance that the requirements will be implemented properly prior to-the issuance of operating licenses.
10 L
SU'C'.ARY TRAINING i
Significant changes in the use of simulators include:
1.
Mandatory use of. simulators in' initial training programs and requalification programs.
i-2.
Increased time at a simulator for applicants seeking licenses after a plant becomes operational.
3.
Increased time at a simulator in requalification programs.
J
-SIMULATOR IMPROVEMENTS 1.
- Better selection of failures
~2.
Preprogrammed multiple failures 3.
Use of advanced codes' 4.
Develop. regulatory guide.
-PLANT SPECIFIC SIMULATORS.
.We have not made a final evaluation regarding plant specific simulators i
for each facility.
~
LWe have asked' Analysis and' Technology, Inc., to evaluate the benefits of.
plant-specific simulators as~part of a recently contracted study on requirements
' for reactor operators.
~ CONCLUSION-
- The training of-nuclear powerfplant operators, like the' design, L
- construction,'and operation of these reactors, has received considerable
- scrutiny since;TMI; Improvements'.in the_use of_ nuclear powerfplant simula-
~
. tors, fare being, and will continue.to be_ developed.
Improvements in simulator 11~
4 h=. a.mm1 8 mm s u f.
m A
2.
m 2.
m
o response will be pursued to establish a high level of realism in the training of operators.
e A
12
,.-..