Human factors engineering incorporated into the Carolina Power & Light Company´s nuclear power plant control panel modifications

The authors present the approach used at Carolina Power and Light´s nuclear power plants that has incorporated human-factors engineering into their plant modification process. An HFE (human-factors engineering) design guide or HFE specification is developed, which is used by the design engineers or plant engineering support groups in the preparation of plant modifications. The procedure provided in the design guide first identifies the function and characteristics of the modified/ne components. When the component type is identified, guidance is provided on the acceptable location of the component, component parameters, and labels. The human-factors guidelines included in the document are taken from applicable criteria on NUREG 0700 (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission control-room design guidelines).<>