PSAM 16 - Session M23 Overview

PSAM 16 Conference Session M23 Overview

Session Chair: Ronald Boring (ronald.boring@inl.gov)

Paper 1 RO172

Lead Author: Ronald Boring

The Diamond Anniversary of THERP: Reflections on Human Reliability Analysis at Sixty Years
The Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction (THERP) was first revealed at a symposium of the then Human Factors Society in 1962. Since that time, THERP has shifted from an initial approach used to support the safety of weapons work, to its appearance as a nuclear regulatory document to support risk analysis of nuclear power plants, to a ubiquitous legacy method. Much of the framework that the field of human reliability analysis (HRA) uses is based on the foundations of THERP, and newer methods are still benchmarked against it. Yet, since its completed appearance as NUREG/CR-1278 in 1983, much has changed. THERP predates the advent of digital control room technologies and the emergence of automation; many safety industries beyond nuclear power are using HRA but must contend with a method calibrated to nuclear operations; many areas of human performance such as cognition, teamwork, and decision making are largely absent in THERP; tasks outside the control room are not adequately modeled in THERP; many accident types including severe accidents were not considered in THERP; THERP does not address granularity of analysis such as human failure events, which have become the standard unit in contemporary use; THERP fails to provide a process for expanding the base method. Despite such emerging challenges, THERP remains widely used in HRA. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how HRA as a field may grow from THERP without limiting itself to a framework that is multiple decades old. HRA now readily exists outside of THERP, but THERP continues to shape HRA. Where should HRA break from the legacy of THERP, and where should it continue to build on that foundation?

The Diamond Anniversary of THERP: Reflections on Human Reliability Analysis at Sixty Years

The Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction (THERP) was first revealed at a symposium of the then Human Factors Society in 1962. Since that time, THERP has shifted from an initial approach used to support the safety of weapons work, to its appearance as a nuclear regulatory document to support risk analysis of nuclear power plants, to a ubiquitous legacy method. Much of the framework that the field of human reliability analysis (HRA) uses is based on the foundations of THERP, and newer methods are still benchmarked against it. Yet, since its completed appearance as NUREG/CR-1278 in 1983, much has changed. THERP predates the advent of digital control room technologies and the emergence of automation; many safety industries beyond nuclear power are using HRA but must contend with a method calibrated to nuclear operations; many areas of human performance such as cognition, teamwork, and decision making are largely absent in THERP; tasks outside the control room are not adequately modeled in THERP; many accident types including severe accidents were not considered in THERP; THERP does not address granularity of analysis such as human failure events, which have become the standard unit in contemporary use; THERP fails to provide a process for expanding the base method. Despite such emerging challenges, THERP remains widely used in HRA. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how HRA as a field may grow from THERP without limiting itself to a framework that is multiple decades old. HRA now readily exists outside of THERP, but THERP continues to shape HRA. Where should HRA break from the legacy of THERP, and where should it continue to build on that foundation?

Paper RO172 | | Download the presentation pdf file. Download the presentation PowerPoint file.

Name: Ronald Boring (ronald.boring@inl.gov)

Bio: Dr. Ron Boring is a Distinguished Human Factors Scientist and Department Manager at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). He has led control room modernization and human risk efforts for a variety of national and international partners. He was the founder of the Human Systems Simulation Laboratory at INL and led development of prototyping tools such as the Advanced Nuclear Interface Modeling Environment (ANIME) and human factors evaluation methods like the Guideline for Operational Nuclear Usability and Knowledge Elicitation (GONUKE) to support control room development at U.S. utilities. He has developed the Human Unimodel for Nuclear Technology to Enhance Reliability (HUNTER) method, which is used extensively for risk modeling. Dr. Boring has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Carleton University. He was a Fulbright Academic Scholar to the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and currently holds the honorary title of Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Country: USA
Company: Idaho National Laboratory
Job Title: Manager