Scrutinizing the effect of task complexity on operators’ task performance time in a digitalized main control room of a nuclear power plant

Abstract

The TACOM (Task Complexity) measure was previously developed to quantify the complexity of tasks conducted by human operators in the main control room of nuclear power plants. The appropriateness of the TACOM measure was then confirmed in various validation studies mainly by comparing TACOM scores and operators’ task performance times in analog-type main control rooms. However, the suitability of the measure has not yet been validated using operators’ task performance times in digital-type main control rooms. This study aimed to further validate the suitability of the TACOM measure by analyzing task performance time data obtained from a digitalized full-scope simulator of a Korean domestic nuclear power plant and comparing the data with TACOM scores. The findings reveal a positive correlation between the task performance times in the digitalized main control room and the TACOM scores, meaning that the operators’ task performance time increases proportionally as the TACOM score increases. This strongly implies that the TACOM measure is also a reliable tool for predicting task complexity in a digitalized main control room.