ML20106B118

Requests That NRC Establish Team Approach to Review of Nuplex 80+ human-machine Interfaces to Facilitate Integrated Balanced Review of Process & Design Features,Per 920820 & 0909-10 Meetings W/Nrc Re Nuplex 80+ Control Room Design

ML20106B118
Person / Time
Site:	05200002
Issue date:	09/18/1992
From:	Matzie R ABB COMBUSTION ENGINEERING NUCLEAR FUEL (FORMERLY, ASEA BROWN BOVERI, INC.
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
ALWR-92-422, NUDOCS 9209300334
Download: ML20106B118 (2)

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A ED E9 7%BN p ASEA BROWN BOVERi September 18, 1992 ALWR-92-422 Docket No.52-002 l 1

Mr. Jack W, Roe Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation '

Attn: Document Control Desk V. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission  ;

Washington, D. C. 20555 i

Subject:

System 80+* Human factors Engineerino Cav'.ew

References:

), NRC Letter dated June 4, 1992, May 19 Meeting on Human Factors

2. ABB-CE Letter LD-92-080, HFE reiteria, dated July 7, 1992

3. ABB-CE Letter ALWR-92-203, HFE Audit, dated April 30, 1992

4. ABB-CE Letter LD-92-085, HFE Team dated July 31, 1992 s

Dear Mr.-Roe:

NRC staff and ABB-CE representatives have recently held two meetings (August 20 and September 9-10, 1992) on Ht! man Factors Engineering-of the Nuplex 80+ control -

room design. It is clear from experience to-date that this review requires the development of new acceptance criteria and we note that progress has been made this past summer. We will contir ue to support the development of new review criteria and we-appreciate the efforts of HRC staff in this dif ficult task.

While NRC must continue to review ABB-CE's control room design process, it-eppears that the current approach is not viable since approval of the control-room's basic design featu!'es prior to certification is not being pursued. The

~ basic ' problem is that NRC approval of the centrol room design appears to be embodied almost entirely in the verification and validation testing of a full proto-type control room. Waiting for NRC approval until a complex control room proto-type is constructed voids the purpose of dt. sign certification and is not commercially practical for a designer. The currant NRC review model (e.g., see Reference 1) is prncess oriented and ABB-CE realizes that review of L design process is necessary since the centrol room design cannot be fully completed :

prior to design certification. It is our belief, however, that ' ti,a current review fe model does not provide sufficient emphasis on review of the basic design tres that are currently available and that form a substantial basis for the u dete control room design.

ABB-CE' provided a document on proposea review criteria -(Reference 2) which '

addressed both process and product review. NRC concerns with that document were Aes combustion engineeriag Nuclear Power 38DM kO6M ccam ,-an w-awma w- acw w 0 3 g 02-

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• U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ALVR-92-422 September 18, 1992 Page 2 provided at the August 20,190? meeting, but those concerns did not obviate the need for review of the basic design features. ABB-CE remains strongly convinced that design features must pl-y a more significant role in the review of Nuplex 80+. A prudent approact must involve a stepwise sign-off of the design such that reasonable assurance of flRC approval of the to-be-completed design can be established at the time of design certification and that constructica, testing, and startup can subseouently be accomplished without significant design changes, cost overruns, or schedule delays. To accomplish this, basic design features (such as those in Reference 3) must be approved by NRC early in the design process.

ABB-CE believes that the NRC review model should be modified now to address approval of specific design features and it is requested that NRC staff prov We f_

additional emphasis on achieving this end. We look forward to incorpora' :on of the important aspects of the proposed design feature acceptance criteria from Reference 2 into the NRC review model and we encourage this to be accomplishec 8 in the near future.

Also, the design of a power plant's control room and other human-machine interfaces < annot be accomplished in isolation from cther engineering disciplines (e.g., instrumentation and controls design, fluid systems performance). The Nuplex 80+ human-machine interface design is being accomplished by a team with 7

representatives from all related disciplines in accordance with NRC review criteria (Reference 4) and we believe that NRC revic4 should also include representatives from other branches (e.g., Instrumentation and Control Systems, Plant Systems, and Reactor Systems). We therefore request that NRC establish a a y team approach to the revicw of Nuplex 80+ human-machine interfaces to facilitate an integrated, balanced review of both the process and the design features. ~

I look forward to discussing the above in more detail and would welcome the i opportunity to answer any questions that you mig 1t have. -

lincerely, fl l& M-Q.

• 4'Q'g?o /$ k/pe I R. Al Matzie'

Vice President Nuclear Systems Development RAM /sr cc: C. Thomas, Jr.

T. Wambach R. pierson D. CrutchfieM Um, Russell I

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