Systems usability concerns in hybrid control rooms

This paper presents findings from two large scale simulator test series which were carried out in the Finnish NPPs. Altogether 18 professional operating crews took part in the experiments and each of them conducted three scenarios at the training simulator of the respective plant. The studies provide evidence on how well-trained operating crews actually manage accident and incident situations in a hybrid control room. The tests were organized in order to have a solid reference in the possible future validation efforts regarding the human factors in the modernization of automation and control room systems. The systems usability (SU) evaluation framework has been developed to understand the role of tools in complex activity. In this paper, we describe the test results of these reference tests for the two plants: both, separately and by comparing the findings of the two cases using the SU framework.