Assessment of human factor influence on reliable and safe operation of nuclear power plants

The proportion of failures at Czechoslovak nuclear power plants due to operators' errors was 20 to 24% in 1987, whereas in 1988 this proportion was exceedingly low, viz. 2% in the best unit and 10% in the worst unit. The results were better still for power production outages caused by the human factor. The total loss due to such outages was mere 2800 MWh, in which respect Czechoslovakia ranked as one of the foremost world countries. Discussed are also the basic principles of nuclear power plant safety, as defined in the IAEA publication (Basic Safety Principles for Nuclear Power Plants) of 1988, from the human factor aspect. It is concluded that in parallel with the development of technical means, training facilities, and simulators for nuclear power plant personnel training, attention must also be paid to methodological problems such as permanent education of nuclear power plant staff members, improvement of the maintenance workers' education and training system, as well as the improvement of information systems and automated nuclear power plant control systems. (Z.M.)