James R. Easter

Providing Decision Support in Westinghouse Nuclear Power Plant Man-Machine Interface Systems

One of the primary goals of the nuclear power plant Man-Machine Interface System (MMIS) designer is to build an MMIS where the human and the machine truly complement each other to produce an integrated system. Attainment of this goal requires a well defined, rigorous design process which provides a mechanism to define the specific operational tasks to be supported, an effective allocation of these tasks between the human and machine components of the design, and a complete set of requirements for the MMIS. In the Westinghouse MMIS design process these activities are grouped together under the title of Function Based Task Analysis (FBTA). This paper describes the basis for the FBTA approach and the implementation methodology employed in the design of a modern nuclear power plant control room.