Objective

The overall objective of this project was to identify potential safety improvement of Control Rooms at Leningrad NPP, with particular attention to the Man Machine Interface (MMI). The project involved both types of control rooms Unit 1 and Unit 3 of Leningrad NPP. The project was divided into three Lots as follows:

• LOT 1: Supply of a Pilot Workstation.
• LOT 2: Design Review and systematic ergonomic assessment of control room facilities.
• LOT 3: Supply of Equipment for Experimental Validation Programme.

The Project was contracted on 19.12.2003 with a budget of €1,560.000.

Results

The scope of work included (i) the delivery of a pilot workstation with associated software (delivered under Lot 1), and (ii) the results of Design review and ergonomic assessment at LNPP control room. There was a specific equipment delivered under Lot 3.

The Consultant has performed a comprehensive human engineering assessment of the control room layout Unit 1 and 2 at LNPP. Originally,the human engineering assessment should have involved the Unit 3 control room design too. However, the Full Scope simulator for the reference Unit 3 needed for conducting the HMI analysis was not available (under the construction) at the project start. The Contractor and LNPP therefore decided to perform a comprehensive human engineering assessment of HMI at Control room of Unit 1.

The following work has been carried out in each specific Lot:

• Lot 1 - A pilot workstation was successfully installed according to the specification. Lot 1 was completed on the 2nd of June 2005.
• Lot 2 –All seven stages of the Lot 2 programme were completed successfully according to the schedule on the 29th of December 2005. A Peer Review conducted on Lot 2 deliverables generally approved the work and provided some valuable comments. The responses to the comments were incorporated in the Final Report.
• Lot 2 –Final Report t on the Ergonomics Review of Control Room. Design was accepted by LNPP and approved by the EC Project manager.
• Lot 3 – The validation facility installation was carried out on the 30th of June 2006. A demonstration of the facility was made at Technical Meeting 18 at LNPP in December 2006 and the results were accepted by LNPP.
• Lot 3 – The Project Final Report was accepted by LNPP.

The Plant used the new prototype facility for the Initial HMI evaluation exercises. This new prototype facility demonstrated its potential for testing of various design improvements of the control room panels and layout of controls. According to opinion of the plant operators, the main benefit of the proposed improvements to the HMI is the new feature with touch control screens and panels, that operator feels more comfortable to use and control the plant processes. This project has provided for a sustainable result; the Leningrad nuclear training centre is an owner of the HMI testing and validation facility and going to use it for improvement of the control room design as well as to test how the operator errors during plant operation could be reduced or avoided.