Publications
Insights from Pilot Testing of the IDHEAS HRA Method
Human reliability analysis (HRA) is used in the context of probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) to provide risk information regarding human performance to support risk-informed decision-making with respect to high-reliability industries. The IntegrateD Human Event Analysis System (IDHEAS) is a new HRA method developed for internal, at-power nuclear power plant (NPP) events. It was motivated by the intention to reduce unnecessary and inappropriate variability in HRA results and improve the reliability of human error probability (HEP) estimates. The method has a strong foundation in human performance and cognitive psychology theories, and employs a cause-based quantification model. This paper documents a study conducted to pilot test IDHEAS to (1) identify issues that needed to be addressed and (2) provide feedback to refine the method before the method was finalized. An introduction on IDHEAS is provided first. Then sample IDHEAS analysis results are presented for illustration purposes. Next, insights from the testing in terms of method strengths and weaknesses are discussed, which is followed by concluding remarks.