Citation

Schmitt K. Work 2012; 41: 4545-4551.

Affiliation

Human Centered Design Institute (HCDi), Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd, Melbourne, Fl 32901, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, IOS Press)

DOI

10.3233/WOR-2012-0035-4545

PMID

22317420

Abstract

Nuclear power is one of the ways that we can design an efficient sustainable future. Automation is the primary system used to assist operators in the task of monitoring and controlling nuclear power plants (NPP). Automation performs tasks such as assessing the status of the plant's operations as well as making real time life critical situational specific decisions. While the advantages and disadvantages of automation are well studied in variety of domains, accidents remind us that there is still vulnerability to unknown variables. This paper will look at the effects of automation within three NPP accidents and incidents and will consider why automation failed in preventing these accidents from occurring. It will also review the accidents at the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima Daiichi NPP's in order to determine where better use of automation could have resulted in a more desirable outcome.

Language: en