Scope Preparation for Human Reliability Analysis Benchmark of ASEAN Nuclear Research Reactors

ASEAN Network on Nuclear Power Safety Research (ASEAN NPSR) investigated the operating culture profile of Nuclear Research Reactors (NRRs) operators using Hofstede's culture indices in order to assess the homogeneous operating culture before initiating the Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) benchmark project for sharing the human performance data and together developing HRA methodology. Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) together developed the specific HRA framework for NRRs to serve the HRA benchmark project. This study aims to show the scope of preparation for the international HRA benchmark in ASEAN NRRs with limited human error data using an analytic approach and a practical approach. In the analytic approach, since ASEAN NRRs follow its specific procedures to manage the task during emergencies, TAsk COMplexity (TACOM) score is recommended as a linkage to estimate Nominal Human Error Probability (NHEP). As for the practical approach, the HRA framework for NRRs suggests simply estimating prior NHEPs from the Human Reliability data EXtraction (HuREX) and updating the observed human errors using the EMpirical data-Based crew Reliability Assessment and Cognitive Error analysis (EMBRACE). A higher HEP between the two approaches is expected to provide the final HEPs as a human error database for the international HRA benchmark in ASEAN NRRs.

Keywords: Human reliability analysis, Nuclear research reactor, HRA benchmark study, ASEAN NPSR.