Occurrences in control room equipment, procedures and personnel performances: IRS control room events

The IAEA/NEA Incident Reporting System (IRS) was established in the early 1980, its objective being to gain from operating experience achieved in countries with nuclear power programmes by means of exchanging information on events relevant to safety. Among the 2171 events in the database, 175 events (i.e. 8%) were identified as ''control room events''. It was decided to group these into three sets for further study: 65 events with common mode/cause failures (CCFs), 22 events with cognitive errors and 30 events with unforeseen interaction between NPP systems. It is expected that the pitfalls experienced in the IRS and the questions derived from this study will help to gain a better understanding of the needs and interests of specialists in advanced information methods and artificial intelligence in NPP control rooms. (author)