EPRI/NRC-RES Fire Human Reliability Analysis Guidelines—Qualitative Analysis for Main Control Room Abandonment Scenarios, Supplement 1 (NUREG-1921, Supplement 1, EPRI 3002009215)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: August 2017

Date Published: January 2020

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
3412 Hillview Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94303

EPRI Project Manager: A. Lindeman

U.S. NRC-RES Project Manager: S. Cooper

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, D.C. 20555-0001

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Abstract

Fire probabilistic risk assessments analyze a wide variety of fire-induced scenarios, one of which is fire damage rendering the main control room (MCR) either uninhabitable or ineffective. As a result of this fire damage, operators cannot stay in the MCR and the command and control of the plant is transferred from the MCR to another location. This is commonly referred to as main control room abandonment (MCRA).

Main control room abandonment is analyzed as a special case of fire human reliability analysis. While NUREG-1921/EPRI 1023001 – EPRI/NRC-RES Fire Human Reliability Analysis Guidelines briefly addressed abandonment, additional guidance and inputs are needed to properly address the unique contexts of abandonment scenarios. Therefore, this effort builds upon previous fire PRA research efforts that developed explicit guidance for estimating human error probabilities for human failures events under fire-related conditions. In particular, this guidance builds upon, rather than replaces, NUREG-1921, which provides, among other items, a process for conducting fire human reliability analysis through several steps including: identification and definition, qualitative analysis, quantification, recovery analysis, dependency analysis, and treatment of uncertainty.

The success of performing shutdown from outside of the MCR is dependent on a number of factors including the plant strategy and procedure, capabilities of the remote shutdown panel, and the number of local operator actions. This report provides additional guidance beyond NUREG-1921 in several areas, including: modeling considerations, feasibility assessment, identification and definition, timing, performance shaping factors (including a preliminary assessment of command and control), and walk-through and talk-through guidance. Overall, this report provides guidance to develop a qualitative foundation for MCRA scenarios that will ultimately support quantification of human failure events related to abandonment.

Keywords:
Command and control
Fire human reliability analysis (Fire HRA)
Fire protection
Main control room abandonment (MCRA)
Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA)
Qualitative analysis