Human Factors Research and Nuclear Safety (1988) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
8. The Regulatory Environment
8. The Regulatory Environment
Pages 89-98
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 89... ...
Although the regulatory environment is seldom considered as a topic for human factors research, the pane} believes it is integral to decisions made within the nuclear utilities and to human factors in nuclear safety. At a general level, the regulatory organizations and institutions affect the incentives and the legal considerations of operation.
|
From page 90... ...
. At the very least a regulatory body should ensure that its own regulations meet accepted human factors standards with respect to lack of ambiguity, comprehensibility, and conformance to human performance requirements.
|
From page 91... ...
that have undertaken a self-regulatory effort in operator training and other organization and management assessment activities. Many human factors areas have been proposed as appropriate for self-regulation, and utilities have taken the initiative in regulating training programs and related activities.
|
From page 92... ...
Arguments can be developed to defend aLrnost any regulatory approach, from detailed specifications to self-regulation. Over the last several years there has been increased reliance on industry initiatives in the human factors area including such areas as training, management, and performance indicators.
|
From page 93... ...
The answers to these questions bear directly on the issues of overall enhancement of safety at nuclear power plants and have implications for regulatory strategies. NRC regulations and requirements place substantial costs on
|
From page 94... ...
PLANT PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Rationale and Background To know whether regulations and utility actions are increasing safety at nuclear power plants, one must first be able to measure plant safety. The fundamental purpose of performance indicators is to be able to readily monitor and assess individual plant performance and take action when appropriate.
|
From page 95... ...
Increasing discontent with traditional rate-of-return regulation has led a number of states to institute or experiment with alternate incentive financial regulation for utilities (Seagraves, 1984; Block et al., 1985~. Details of these contracts differ, but the general point is to create incentives for utilities to operate their systems in a cost elective manner, generally by sharing extra profits or imposing penalties should costs exceed some predeterminer!
|
From page 96... ...
Regulatory actions such as these, which have clear implications for productivity and therefore have safety implications as well, should be subjected to analysis and research. To begin, those incentive programs that are already in place could form a body of case studies, whereby characteristics of the specific incentive plan, utility and plant management responses to this plan, and actual plant performance would be carefully delineated and analyzed in terms of both safety and production.
|
From page 97... ...
If this plan is implemented in 1988, receives the strong support of the NRC and of the industry, is managed by a qualified human factors specialist, is staffed by a team of multidisciplinary scientists, and ~ organized as a branch rather than as a subdivision of the reliability branch, then the initial steps of leadership required of the NRC in this critical area will have been taken. In this report, the pane} has emphasized higher priority items as a point of departure.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.