• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.82-95
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• 2024

Analyzing the aftermath of events at domestic nuclear power plants brings in the question: "Why do workers not comply with the prescribed procedures?" The current investigation of nuclear power plant events identifies their reasons considering the factors affecting the workers' behaviors. However, there are some complications to it: in addition to confirming the action such as an error or a violation, there is a limit to identifying the intention of the actor. To overcome this limitation, the study analyzed and examined the reasons for non-compliance identified in nuclear power plant events by Reason's rule-related behavior classification. For behavior analysis, I selected unit behaviors for events that are related to human and organizational factors and occurred at domestic nuclear power plants since 2017, and then I applied the rule-related behavior classification introduced by Reason (2008). This allowed me to identify the intentions by classifying unit behaviors according to quality and compliance with the rules. I also identified the factors that influenced unit behaviors. The analysis showed that most often, non-compliance only pursued personal goals and was based on inadequate risk appraisal. On the other hand, the analysis identified cases where it was caused by such factors as poorly written procedures or human system interfaces. Therefore, the probability of non-compliance can be reduced if these factors are properly addressed. Unlike event investigation techniques that struggle to identify the reasons for employee behavior, this study provides a new interpretation of non-compliance in nuclear power plant events by examining workers' intentions based on the concept of rule-related behavior classification.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.313-326
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• 2017

The systematic management of plant risk is crucial for enhancing the safety of nuclear power plants and for designing new nuclear power plants. Accident sequence precursor (ASP) analysis may be able to provide risk significance of operational experience by using probabilistic risk assessment to evaluate an operational event quantitatively in terms of its impact on core damage. In this study, an ASP methodology for two operation mode, full power and low power/shutdown operation, has been developed and applied to significant accident precursors that may occur during the operation of nuclear power plants. Two operational events, loss of feedwater and steam generator tube rupture, are identified as ASPs. Therefore, the ASP methodology developed in this study may contribute to identifying plant risk significance as well as to enhancing the safety of nuclear power plants by applying this methodology systematically.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.86-91
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• 2021

Calculating the scrutable core damage frequency (CDF) of nuclear power plants is an important component of the seismic probabilistic safety assessment (SPSA). In this work, a simple approach is developed to calculate CDF from minimal cut sets (MCSs) with non-rare events. When conventional calculation methods based on rare event approximations are employed, the CDF of industry SPSA models is significantly overestimated by non-rare events in the MCSs. Recently, quantification algorithms using binary decision diagrams (BDDs) have been introduced to prevent CDF overestimation in the SPSA. However, BDD structures are generated from a small part of whole MCSs due to limited computational memory, and they cannot be reviewed due to their complicated logic structure. This study suggests a simple approach for scrutinizing the CDF calculation based on whole MCSs in the SPSA system analysis model. The proposed approach compares the new results to outputs from existing algorithms, which helps in avoiding CDF overestimation.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1993.07a
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• pp.140-143
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• 1993

Station Blackout(SBO) event means the complete loss of alternating current(AC) electrical power to the essential & nonessential switchgear buses in a nuclear power plants. Since many safety systems in nuclear power plants depend upon alternative current power, the SBO event could be an important contributor to damage of reactor core. Therefore, the SBO events have been considered as a very important safety issues in a nuclear power plants. In this paper, as evaluating the design characteristics of offsite & emergency power systems, an acceptable minimum SBO duration is calculated. And it is presented that the design method for alternative AC(AAC) sources to cope with the SBO events.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2510-2518
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• 2022

The main purpose of collecting and analyzing operating experience events is to look for insights to improve safety. The underlying assumption is the correlation and causality between events with different safety significances. The analysis of this assumption could be valuable to optimize operating experience feedback programs and to enhance safety. This paper analyses the correlation between events with different safety significances. Groups of events from six nuclear energy related databases are considered. The findings are that a correlation exists but with various levels and not as large or consistent as might be expected across different databases. These results might be the basis for further work to analysis causality, to find out how a similarity in causes influences the correlation, and finally to improve the operating experience program.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.616-617
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2812-2820
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• 2020

House load operation (HLO) occurs when the generator supplies power to the house load without triggering reactor trips during grid disturbances. In Korea, the HLO capability of optimized power reactor 1000 (OPR1000) plants has prevented several reactor trips. Operational experiences demonstrate the difference in the reactor trip incidence due to grid disturbances between OPR1000 plants and Westinghouse plants in Korea, attributable to the availability of the HLO capability. However, probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) for OPR1000 plants have not considered their specific design features in the initiating event analyses. In an at-power PSA, the HLO capability can affect the initiating event frequencies of general transients (GTRN) and loss of offsite power (LOOP), resulting from transients within the grid system. The initiating event frequencies of GTRN and LOOP for an OPR1000 plant are reduced by 17.7% and 78.7%, respectively, compared to the Korean industry-average initiating event frequencies, and its core damage frequency from internal events is reduced by 15.2%. The explicit consideration of the HLO capability in initiating event analyses makes significant changes in the risk contributions of the initiating events. Consequently, for more realistic at-power PSAs in Korea, we recommend incorporating plant-specific HLO-related design features when estimating initiating event frequencies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.842-850
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• 2021

Real Time Simulation (RTS) has long been used in the nuclear power industry for operator training and engineering purposes. And, Online Simulation (OLS) is based on RTS and with connection to the plant information system to acquire the measurement data in real time for calibrating the simulation models and following plant operation, for the purposes of analyzing plant events and providing indicative signs of malfunctioning. An OLS system has been developed to support PWR operations for CPR1000 plants. The OLS system provides graphical user interface (GUI) for operators to monitor critical plant operations for preventing faulty operation or analyzing plant events. Functionalities of the OLS system are depicted through the maneuvering of the GUI for various OLS functional modules in the system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.173-173
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• 2003

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.114-128
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• 2016

The development of operational performance indicators is of utmost importance for nuclear power plants, since they measure, track, and trend plant operation. Leading indicators are ideal for reducing the likelihood of consequential events. This paper describes the operational data analysis of the information contained in the Corrective Action Program. The methodology considers human error and organizational factors because of their large contribution to consequential events. The results include a tool developed from the data to be used for the identification, prediction, and reduction of the likelihood of significant consequential events. This tool is based on the resilience curve that was built from the plant's operational data. The stress is described by the number of unresolved condition reports. The strain is represented by the number of preventive maintenance tasks and other periodic work activities (i.e., baseline activities), as well as, closing open corrective actions assigned to different departments to resolve the condition reports (i.e., corrective action workload). Beyond the identified resilience threshold, the stress exceeds the station's ability to operate successfully and there is an increased likelihood that a consequential event will occur. A performance indicator is proposed to reduce the likelihood of consequential events at nuclear power plants.