Abstract
Energy consumption has been increased world widely, and the energy retain is one of the most important economic alternatives. These tendencies expand the nuclear power plants not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. Despite of the increasing construction of nuclear power plants and related facilities, every system in main control room(MCR) has been designed and administered solely based on the safety-first principles because of the specificity of nuclear industry. However, recent main control rooms started with the concept that the operators' performance could be optimized though the organic interrelation between human, machine, and environments. Now, it has been recognised in the scope of Ergonomics and Space Design which acknowledge our living spaces as Man-Environment Interface and this change connotes the MCR spaces should be special spaces rather than ordinary spaces. This research investigated domestic and foreign nuclear power plants' MCRs to suggest basic alternatives which can be applied to future MCR. With the review of characteristics of MCR, an integration of interior design, lighting and Ergonomics was explored and classified as types. Futhermore, the classification of environmental characteristics within the relationships between human, machine, and environments was developed through the case analysis of nuclear power plants. The results of this study will provide a basis of space design for system environments that the high level of safety and function are extremely important.