TY - GEN
T1 - Control room modernization at Finnish nuclear power plants
T2 - 5th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Plant Instrumentation Controls, and Human Machine Interface Technology
AU - Laarni, Jari
AU - Norros, Leena
N1 - Project code: 4318
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - The modernization of automation systems and human-machine
interfaces is a current issue at both of the two nuclear
power plants (i.e., Fortum's Loviisa plant and TVO's
Olkiluoto plant) in Finland. Since the plants have been
launched in the 1970's or 1980's, technology is in part
old-fashioned and needs to be renewed. At Olkiluoto
upgrades of the turbine operator systems have already
been conducted; at Loviisa the first phase of the
modernization project has just started.
Basically, there is a question of the complete
digitalization of the information streams at the two
plants, and transition from a conventional hard-wired or
hybrid control room to a screen-based one. The new
human-machine interfaces will comprise new technology,
such as PC workstations, soft control, touch screens and
large-screen overall displays. The modernization of
human-system interfaces is carried out in a stepwise
manner at both plants.
At both plants the main driver has not been the need to
renew the user interfaces of the control room, but the
need to upgrade the automation systems. In part because
of this, there is a lack of a systematic top-down
approach in which different aspects of human factors (HF)
engineering are considered in relationship to higher
level goals.
Our aim here is to give an overview description of the
control room modernization projects at the two plants and
provide a preliminary evaluation of their progress to
date. The projects are also compared, for example, in
terms of duration, scope and phasing, and who is
responsible for the realization of the project. In
addition, we also compare experiences from the Finnish
projects to experiences from similar projects abroad. The
main part of the data used in this study is based on
designers' and project members' interviews.
AB - The modernization of automation systems and human-machine
interfaces is a current issue at both of the two nuclear
power plants (i.e., Fortum's Loviisa plant and TVO's
Olkiluoto plant) in Finland. Since the plants have been
launched in the 1970's or 1980's, technology is in part
old-fashioned and needs to be renewed. At Olkiluoto
upgrades of the turbine operator systems have already
been conducted; at Loviisa the first phase of the
modernization project has just started.
Basically, there is a question of the complete
digitalization of the information streams at the two
plants, and transition from a conventional hard-wired or
hybrid control room to a screen-based one. The new
human-machine interfaces will comprise new technology,
such as PC workstations, soft control, touch screens and
large-screen overall displays. The modernization of
human-system interfaces is carried out in a stepwise
manner at both plants.
At both plants the main driver has not been the need to
renew the user interfaces of the control room, but the
need to upgrade the automation systems. In part because
of this, there is a lack of a systematic top-down
approach in which different aspects of human factors (HF)
engineering are considered in relationship to higher
level goals.
Our aim here is to give an overview description of the
control room modernization projects at the two plants and
provide a preliminary evaluation of their progress to
date. The projects are also compared, for example, in
terms of duration, scope and phasing, and who is
responsible for the realization of the project. In
addition, we also compare experiences from the Finnish
projects to experiences from similar projects abroad. The
main part of the data used in this study is based on
designers' and project members' interviews.
M3 - Conference article in proceedings
SN - 978-0-89448-051-5
T3 - INIS Report
SP - 890
EP - 897
BT - Proceedings of the 5th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Plant Instrumentation Controls, and Human Machine Interface Technology
PB - American Nuclear Society (ANS)
Y2 - 12 November 2006 through 16 November 2006
ER -