The State of the Art of Cognitive Systems Engineering Research in Nuclear Industry

Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) is a multidisciplinary field that is concerned with analysis, design, evaluation, and operation of a complex sociotechnical system, such as nuclear power plants (NPPs) and air traffic control systems, in which human operators should interact with a work domain. It aims to develop frameworks, methods, and tools for realizing a better human-system interaction in those systems. CSE has been developed mainly in the domain of process control systems including NPPs; it has much contributed towards improving the safety and productivity of NPP. With this background in mind, the author would like to review the state of the art of CSE research in nuclear industry and to propose several meaningful research directions in the discipline in relation to nuclear industry. In order to help researchers to apply the conceptual and methodological tools in the field of CSE to nuclear industry more effectively, this paper introduced the past and the present CSE research in nuclear industry and suggested seven issues for advancing CSE research.