Coping with Unexpected Safety-critical Situations - A Concept for Resilient (Simulator) Team training for Control Room Teams

Abstract

In conventional simulator trainings operators are trained to meet work demands by following standard procedures. Sustainable simulator trainings should additionally include practice to cope with unknown and unexpected, potentially hazardous system states. This does not only mean to prepare teams to successfully handle unknown problems but also to learn from shown coping behavior of teams from an organizational perspective. That is important for the organizational development toward system-safety. The present article describes the training concept that was developed for control room teams in a Swiss nuclear power plant, with due regard to methods of organizational learning. The focus lies on the identification of successful behavioral strategies the control room teams already show to maintain the plant's safety during critical situations. By identification of central strategies of successful team behavior a training concept including a method for structuring such coping behavior (“PUMA”) was developed. The training is already implemented as inherent part of annual simulation trainings in the control room simulator of the nuclear power plant. Additionally “PUMA” is established as an official method used for coping with unexpected situations in the control room. A worldwide recommendation of the training concept, including the method “PUMA”, is currently under examination by the “World association of Nuclear of operator” (WANO).