Analysis of Emergency Staffing for Nuclear Power Plants

Determination of staffing requirements for response to nuclear plant emergencies should be based upon task analysis in order to ensure that emergency functions can be performed in any type of accident. The method of analysis must recognize the differences between personnel performance in normal and emergency conditions and the limited information available for analysis of emergency tasks. A four-phase method is described that consists of generic analysis (identification of general emergency functions and tasks), situational analysis (definition of the characteristics of the classes of emergencies that can occur), quantitative analysis (determination of workloads, by position) and sensitivity analysis (examination of the degree to which changes in assumptions produce changes in required staffing levels).