InternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016www.ijnese.

org
doi:10.14355/ijnese.2016.06.001

SeveralResearchMethodsIntroductionon
NPPOperatorsReliability
JiangShengyao,LiFu,ZhouYangping,HeXuhong,FangJingxuan*
TsinghuaUniversity,Beijing100084,China
Beijing101MiddleSchool,Beijing100091,China
zhouyp@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn;joannafjx@sina.com
Abstract
ThepaperintroducesseveralrelevantresearchmethodsonreliabilitytoChinesenuclearpowerplantoperatorsinpastover10
years based on nuclear power plant (NPP) simulator platform. The relevant research methods including human cognition
reliability model, fuzzy synthetic evaluation math model, and psychology quality research model etc. are introduced briefly.
Theintroductionisnotonlyafactrecordofpastover10yearsresearchaboutoperatorreliability,butalsoakindofsummary
abouttheresearchmethods.TheresearchmethodsonNPPoperatorsreliabilitywillbenotonlyusefultothesafeoperationof
nuclearpowerplant,butalsoreferencedtotheoperatorresearchofotherindustries.
Keywords
NuclearPowerPlantOperator,HCRModel,Borda,PossibilisticFuzzyRegressionModel,PsychologyQuality,FuzzySyntheticEvaluation,
PsychologyEvaluation

Introduction
Electricityisthekeysourceofpowerforsocioeconomicdevelopmentofanycountry.Almosteverycountryneeds
a stable and powerful source which will be able to supply energy continuously for a very long period of time.
Nuclear energy can be the best solution to this problem. Primary sources of energy cant provide that much of
energyasnuclearenergy.[26]Sonuclearenergyapplicationleadstosafetyissue.
Amongtheseriouseventsandaccidentsinnuclearpowerplant(NPP),thehumanbeingsrelatederrorsareover
50%.Nowmanycountriesintheworldhavetakenmoreattentiontotheresearchofhumanbeingreliability.[1]
As the most important factor to protect the safety of NPP, the NPP operators are highly regarded. The research
methods on NPP operators are various. Several research methods on the reliability of Chinese NPP operators in
pastover10yearshavegivenoutbriefintroductionandsummary.Theapplicationofthesemethodsisnotonly
importanttoNPPsafeoperationbutalsoreferredtotheresearchoftheoperatorsofotherindustriesonreliability.
Several Research Methods on NPP Operators Reliability
ThesafeoperationofNPPincludesequipmentsandoperatorstwoaspects.Theequipmentsreliabilityresearchof
NPP could be applied with some methods like Monte Carlo method to simplify the Bayes estimation of nuclear
power plant equipment reliability. The method makes it possible to automatically and quickly analyze the
reliabilitydataandgreatlysimplifythecomputingprocedure.[2]
As brief introduction showed above, besides the equipment reliability research, the most important research
should be focused on the NPP operators. The relevant research on Chinese NPP operators reliability mainly
includes human cognitive reliability (HCR) model research, synthetic evaluation on operators, psychological
evaluationonoperatorsandetc.Therelevantsystematicresearchcontinuedseveralstepsandmanyaspects.The
processandcontentofrelevantresearchonNPPandNPPoperatorsreliabilitycanbeshowedasFigure1.
Basiccapacityofoperatorsincludeseducationbackground,workingyears,workingposition,licensesituationand
etc. Position capacity of operators includes relevant position knowledge capability, accidents responding ability,

www.ijnese.orgInternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016

cooperation capability and communication skill etc. Psychological evaluation of operators touches the most
important factor affecting the safety of NPP or operators themselves. The relevant methods will be introduced
brieflyasbelow.
ReliabilityResearchonNPP
ReliabilityResearchonEquipments
ReliabilityResearchonOperators

BasicCapacityEvaluationof
Operators

PositionCapacityEvaluation
ofOperators

PsychologicalQuality
EvaluationofOperators

FIG.1RELIABILITYRESEARCHONNPP

CognitiveModelofReliabilityResearchonNPPOperators
TheresearchmethodonNPPoperatorsreliabilityisfocusedonthequantitativeresearchofeventresponseunder
the restrained time based on NPP simulator. The simulated data is come from computer simulation like macro
computerandetc.Nowwiththecomputertechniquerapiddevelopment,thesimulatorsevercantaketheroleof
plantanddoesvariousmathematicalcalculationstomimicthereactorinrealtime. [28]Amongtheseriousevents
andaccidentsinNPP,theerrorsrelatedtohumanbeingsareover50%. [3]Nowmanycountriesintheworldhave
taken more attention to the research of human reliability. There are many countries & regions such as USA,
Hungary,Japan,Taiwan,makinguseofhumancognitivereliability(HCR)modeltodothequantitativeresearchof
NPPoperators.[48]
TheHCRmodelisoneofthemostusefulmodelstostudyHumanReliabilityAnalysis(HRA)quantitatively.Asa
cognitivemodel,itisalsothemostusuallyusedmethodinNPPoperatorbehaviorresearch.TheHCRmethodhas
thefollowingsixsteps:[9]
1)

IdentifyingtheactionsthatmustbeanalyzedbytheHRA,using,e.g.,ataskanalysismethod.

2) Classifyingthetypesofcognitiveprocessingrequiredbytheactions.Thisclassificationusesasequenceof
binarychoices,resultinginaclassificationintermsofskillbased,rulebasedandknowledgebasedactions.
3) Determiningthemedianresponsetime(T0.5)ofacrewtoperformtherequiredtasks.
4) Adjustingthemedianresponsetimetoaccountforperformanceinfluencingfactors.
5) Foreachaction,determiningthesystemtimewindow(Tsw)inwhichactionmustbetaken.
6) Finally, dividing the Tsw by T0.5 to obtain a normalized time value. Based on this, the probability of non
responseisfoundbyusingasetoftimereliabilitycurves.
Itisclearfromthisdescriptionofthemethodthatthereferenceismadetoaspecificoperatormodel,i.e.,theskill
based,rulebased,knowledgebasedcharacteristicsdevelopedasanelaborationofthestepladdermodel. [10]This
modelisusedintwodifferentways.Onewayistoclassifythecognitiveprocessingrequiredbytheactions.The
otherwayistodistinguishbetweenthreetimereliabilitycurveswhichprovidedifferentvaluesfortheprobability
ofnonresponseforeachtypeofcognitiveprocessing.[11]
TheHCRcurvesareshowninFigure2.ThereliabilitycognitivemodelofNPPoperatorsisoftendescribedbythe
curves.ThesecurvescanbefittedbythreeparameterWeibulldistribution [12],twoparameterWeibulldistribution
[13]orlogarithmicnormaldistribution.
TheappliedcognitivemodeloftheresearchonthereliabilityofChineseNPPoperatorsisshowedinformulaas
below:
P(t)=exp[(t/T0.5)/Ai]Bi(1)
T0.5isthemediantimethatNPPoperatorsexecuteanaction;

InternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016www.ijnese.org

Ai,Biaretherelatedsize,shapeparametersofithkindcognitiveaction,respectively;
P(t)isthenonresponseprobabilityofNPPoperatoratt.

NonresponseProbability

10 0
Knowledge-based
10 - 1
Skill-based

Rule-based

10 - 2

10 3 10 0 10
NormalizedTime
FIG.2HCRCURVE

The research on the NPP operators reliability is often combined with the training of NPP operators in many
countriesoftheworld. [14]TheexperimentalresearchonChineseNPPoperatorsreliabilitywasalsodonetogether
withthetrainingontheNPPsimulator.
Sixaccidentsareselectedinthereliabilityexperimentresearch.Theyaresteamgeneratortuberupture(SGTR),loss
of coolant accident (LOCA), main steam line break (MSLB), external power network failure 1 (EPNF1), external
powernetworkfailure2(EPNF2)andanticipatedtransientwithoutscram(ATWS).
The experiments include wideranging humansystem interaction (HI) based on HCR model. The six selected
accidentswereperformedonarealNPPfullsizesimulatorofChina.Itisreferredtoa300MW,twocircularPWR
NPP. The attendees are 38 operators who come from a NPP of China. The experimental parameters of the two
parameterWeibulldistributiondescribedwithformula(1)areshowninTable1.
TABLE1THEPARAMETERSOFTWOPARAMETERWEIBULLDISTRIBUTION(300MW)

Accident

Ai

Bi

T 0 . 5 (S)

SGTR

1.17

2.39

118.41

MSLB

1.11

3.4

15.88

LOCA

1.23

1.75

53.47

EPNF1

1.24

1.72

6.45

EPNF2

1.65

0.97

15.88

ATWS

1.32

1.11

62.94

Based on the experimental parameters, the fitting curves of the twoparameter Weibull distribution to the six
accidentscanbeobtained.ThefittingcurvesofsixaccidentsbasedonthetwoparameterWeibulldistributionare
showninFigure3.
Fromtheresearchsomeconclusionscouldbefound:
1) Through the academic analysis and experimental result on the reliability research of the Chinese NPP
operatorsbasedondifferentkindsofsimulators,theappliedcognitivemodelonHCRisverified;
2) ThecognitivetypeofChineseNPPoperatorsisarulebasedtypeofHCR.Theresearchmethodbasedon
twoparameterWeibulldistributioncanbeusedtoverifycognitivemodelHCRmodel.
3) ThemediantimecanbeusedasabehaviorindicatoroftheNPPoperators.
4) The related results of the fitting curves based on twoparameter Weibull distribution can be referred to
layingdowntherealNPPoperatingregulationswhichapplytotheresponsetimeofemergencyaccidents.

www.ijnese.orgInternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016

Sinceallexperimentswerebasedonsimulatorplatform,thedatacollectionisveryimportant.Accordingtorecent
research results, in order to be against gross measurement errors, data reconciliation (DR) should be applied. [25]
And for real time monitoring, distributed data acquisition system is also applied. [27] This will be a direction for
futureresearch.
Furthermore, in the research only rulebased type conclusion was got based on 38 operators sample. For more
ChineseNPPoperators,theconclusioncouldbeverifiedfurtherinfutureresearch.

NonresponseProbability

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4

HI1SGTR(+)
HI2MSLB()
HI3LOCA()
HI4EPNF1()
HI5EPNF2()
HI6ATWS()

0.2
0.10
0.08
0.06

HI4
HI3

0.04

HI5
HI6

HI2
HI1

0.02
0.01
0.1

0.2

0.4

0.6 0.8 1.0

2.0

4.0

6.0 8.0 10.0

NormalizedTime
FIG.36HIFITTINGCURVESBASEDONTWOPARAMETERWEIBULLDISTRIBUTION

ReliabilityResearchonNPPOperatorsBasedonPossibilisticFuzzyRegressionModel
Thereliabilityresearchofnuclearpowerplant(NPP)operatorsisfocusedonthenonresponseprobabilityofNPP
operatorsundertherestrainedtime.Theresponsetimetotheaccidentsisveryimportant.Itcanbeinfluencedby
theperformanceshapefactors(PSF).SincePSFincludemanyfactorsanduncertainties,itisverydifficulttoprocess
quantitatively. Based on the probability distribution of the response time on HCR model, in order to solve the
uncertaintyproblemonthenonresponseprobability,theresponsetimeissupposedasasinglepointvalue.Thisis
thetraditionalresearchmethodofHCRmodel.However,theuncertaintyofthemediantimetotheaccidentson
HCRmodelcanbeinfluencedbyPSF,itisnotcompletetoregardtheresponsetimeasonlyasimplepointvalue.
The relevant method of fuzzy mathematics is utilized to do research on the NPP operator response time
distributionrelatedtoPSF.ThemethoddescribesthelinearrelationsbetweenresponsetimeandPSF.Therelations
canbedescribedbythefuzzydefinitionofPSFthatcanbesetupbyalinearfuzzysystemequationandmadeuse
offuzzylinearregressiontoestimaterelatedfuzzyparameters.Furthermore,thepossibilisticdistributionfunction
oftheresponsetimetotheaccidentsofNPPoperatorscanbeobtained.
Therelevantformulaisshowninformula2asbelow:[15]
Y=A0+A1X1++AnXn(2)
Yisrespondingtimedescribedbyfuzzydata.X1,X2XnarerealnumberofPSF.A0isafuzzyconstant.Itdescribes
parameter of responding time to the accidents of NPP operators. A1, A2An are fuzzy data to express the PSF
parameters that affect responding time of accidents such as urgent pressure, EOP procedure, cognitive level, HI
design level, safety parameter display system(SPDS), structure of operators, communication, training and
experienceetc.
ConsideringChineseNPPoperatorssituation,thepossibilisticlinearmodelfortheresponsetimeYjisassumedto
beasfollowsinformula3:
YjA0+A1X1j+A2X2j+A3X3j(3)

whereX1j,X2j,X3jdenoteage,experienceoutsideacontrolroomandeducationforthejthcrewgroup,respectively.

InternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016www.ijnese.org

WhenYjisthefuzzyobservedvaluewithrespecttothejthinputvariableXj=(X1X3)jandAiarefuzzynumbers
i=0,3A0denotestheaccidentresponsetimerepresentedbyfuzzyparameterofNPPoperators,A1,A2andA3
denoteage,experienceoutsideacontrolroomandeducationrepresentedbyfuzzyparameters.[16]
Through the research to 24 Chinese NPP operators with 8 groups considering the average data including
responding time to accident, age, control room experience and education etc, the possibilistic linear regression
modelfortheresponsetimeYisasbelowinformula4:
Y=(1417.2,10)L+(121.8,0)LX1+(82.27,0)LX2+(95.45,0)LX3(4)
whereX1X2X3denotesthevariableofage,experienceoutsideacontrolroomandeducationrespectively.
Based on formula (4), A0 is a positive value, and the accident response time of NPP operator has a basic fuzzy
numberconstant.ThefunctionofPSFcanberealizedthroughA1,A2andA3.ThecoefficientofageofoperatorsA1
isnegative,itmakesclearthattheoldertheageis,themorepossibilitytherapidresponsebasedonexperiencehas.
The feedback is negative to the response time. Both the coefficient of the experience outside a control room of
operatorsA2andthecoefficientoftheeducationA3arepositive.Itshowsthatrichworkingexperienceandgood
educationcanimprovethesyntheticqualityandthejudgeability.
Theresearchmethodisbasedon24Chineseoperatorsandsomeaccidents.Thekeypointisthepossibilisticlinear
model could be used to do research on NPP operators reliability. However, the sample number is not more
enoughandtherelevantPSFsalsocouldbediscussedmoreover.
SyntheticEvaluationofNPPOperatorsBasedonBordaScore
Human being is a key factor to the safety of NPP operation. Synthetic evaluation of NPP operators is related to
suchasknowledgeskill,psychologicalpersonality,organizationdesign,behaviorandenvironmentetc.Thehuman
relevant experiments to NPP operators can reflect their synthetic ability to some extent. Considering the
environmentofNPPoperators,thetestresultscanbeanalyzedbasedontheirbackground.Throughmakinguseof
Fuzzysupervision,theevaluationtoNPPoperatorscanbeobtainednotonlyqualitatively,butalsoquantitatively.
FuzzysyntheticevaluationsuppliesthemethodandtoolofquantitativeanalysistoNPPoperators.Inthismethod,
to the factor set U={u1 , u2 , , un }, evaluation result can be expressed by different class, appraisal and data.
Assuming there are m kinds of evaluation class or appraisal, the relevant evaluation set is V={ v1 , v2 , , vm }.
Becauseofthedifferentextentofdifferentevaluationfactor,evaluationfactoruiisarrangedrelevantweightfactor
n

ai , and ai 1 . Different weight assignments can lead to different synthetic evaluation results. The weight
i 1

assignmentofvariousfactorscanbedescribedasA={a1,a2,,an}.AftergettingU,VandA,evaluationsetcanbe
obtainedthroughcombiningFuzzytransform(A(UV))[17]
Fuzzy performance evaluation factor set of NPP operators can be assigned as B={SGTR, LOCA, MSLB, EPNF1,
EPNF2,ATWS}.TheBordascoreaboutexperimentaccidentsofNPPoperatorsisdescribedinTable2.
TABLE2BORDASCOREOFACCIDENTSRESPONSEPROBABILITYOFNPPOPERATORS(BP)

No.

SGTR

MSLB

LOCA

EPNF1

EPNF2

ATWS

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To each NPP operator, the sum of total weight factor is 1, or i ( x) 1 . n is the number that NPP operator
i 1

attends experiments. The overall Borda score of each NPP operator is Bt i ( x) Bi ( x) . [18] The performance
i 1

evaluationresultsof8NPPoperatorsareshowedinTable3.
TABLE3PERFORMANCEEVALUATIONRESULTSOFNPPOPERATORS

OperatorNo.

Bp

Ranks

0.3

2.4

3.9

3.5

2.6

3.4

PerformanceevaluationisapartofsyntheticabilityofNPPoperators.Inactualevaluation,theenvironmentfact
should be added. So the similar method can be used to analyze synthetic ability of NPP operators. Two factors
including NPP operators working experience and education experience will be regarded as evaluation factors.
Fuzzy synthetic evaluation factor set of NPP operators is Bs={Working Experience, Education Experience,
PerformanceEvaluation}.ThesyntheticabilityrankofNPPoperatorsisinTable4.
TABLE4SYNTHETICEVALUATIONRESULTSOFNPPOPERATORS

OperatorNo.

Bs

Ranks

4.2

2.9

4.6

2.4

2.8

1.6

The Fuzzy synthetic evaluation of NPP operators is based on the value of accident response probability and
environmentfactorssuchasworkingexperienceandeducationexperience.Thehigherthevalueis,thebiggerthe
Borda score is. The bigger the Borda score is, the stronger the synthetic ability that the NPP operator has. The
synthetic evaluation result is influenced by many factors of NPP operators such as age, education background,
psychologicalfactorandenvironmentetc.
Basedontheranksnineyearsago,thepresentsituationof8NPPoperatorscanverifytherelatedanalysismethod
and model. Among 8 NPP operators, the top 4 ranks have been promoted or appointed important work. For
example, the operator ranked 1 has been arranged to other country to control NPP operation. The operators
ranking 2, 4 and 5 were also assigned to other country to operate NPP. The other operators stayed here to be
responsibleforNPPoperation.Theevaluationresultsinthepastreflectedtheirrelevantability.[19]
TheFuzzysyntheticevaluationofNPPoperatorssuppliesakindoftoolsormethodstoevaluatecapabilityofNPP
operators.Themethodneedsalongtimetoverifytheexperimentconclusionmanyyearsago.Soitsefficiencyis
notgood.However,themethodcouldbeusedtootherindustrypeople.

InternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016www.ijnese.org

PsychologyQualityEvaluationResearchonNPPOperators
Withthemodernpsychologicalsurveytheoryresearchdevelopmentandpsychologytestappliedinthepersonnel
selection,thepsychologyselectionsystemisplayingamoreandmoreremarkablepartinthepersonnelselection
andappraisal.Itisbecomingoneofthemostimportantcontentstoevaluateandforecastthehumanbehavior.
Theoversearesearchtothedangerousoccupationstartsrelativelyearly.Forexample,pilotpsychologyselection
systemisused and leads to prominentresult in pilot selection inGermany; the research on NPP operators from
Prognoz Institute of Psychology of former Soviet Union indicates that the performance level is related to some
certainspecificpsychologicalcharacteristicslikesenseofresponsibility,emotionalstabilityandsoon.Inaddition,
thepsychologicalresearchalsoinvolvedmemberofsubmarine,driverofexpresstrain,andmanagementpersonnel
ofairplaneetc.
ToChinanucleardomain,thedimensionstoselectNPPoperatorpsychologicalqualityhavenotbeensetup.The
relevantresearchisnotsufficient.
To Chinese NPP operators, 9 NPP accidents which are connected closely with NPP operators are selected to
analyze. Chinese NPP operator psychology selection system including cognition ability, personality psychology
characteristicsandpsychologicalhealth3aspectsisobtainedthroughtherelevantresearchfinally.
1)CognitionAbility
ThecognitionabilityofChineseNPPoperatorsincludescapabilityofobservation,operationability,attention,
memoryability,andquantityanalysisabilityandlogicjudgmentability6aspects.
2)PersonalityCharacteristics
Personality is a person who takes into action through special way including internal structure and process.
Personality psychology characteristics include Gregarious, Venturesome, SelfRegulation, Emotional Stability,
andRiskTakingandAchievementMotivation6dimensions.
3)PsychologicalHealth
Psychological health is a fundamental requirement to operator normal operation. The research includes
Somatization,ObsessiveCompulsive,InterpersonalSensitivity,Depression,Anxiety,Hostility,PhobicAnxiety,
ParanoidIdeationandPsychoticism9dimensions.
Cognition ability can be tested through professional psychology instrument; Personality psychology
characteristicsismainlyobtainedthroughpapertestandexpertinterview;Psychologicalhealthmeasurement
canbegotthroughSCL90table.[20]
TABLE5THEEXAMPLEOFCHINESENPPOPERATORSPSYCHOLOGICALCHARACTERISTICSDATA

z4

z5

z6

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

S6

S7

S8

S9

61

54

54

55

1.1

1.3

1.3

1.1

1.1

1.2

1.1

1.2

1.2

64

62

50

58

56

1.1

1.4

1.3

1.1

1.1

1.2

1.0

1.3

1.4

46

58

50

45

52

1.5

2.5

2.2

2.2

1.5

1.7

1.3

2.5

1.3

z1

z2

z3

Normal

57

55

66

56

Note: z1 to z 6 isGregarious,Venturesome,SelfRegulation,EmotionalStability,RiskTakingandAchievementMotivationrespectively;S1toS9
isSomatization,ObsessiveCompulsive,InterpersonalSensitivity,Depression,Anxiety,Hostility,PhobicAnxiety,ParanoidIdeationand
Psychoticismrespectively.

Table5displayspsychologicalcharacteristicsdataof2operators.Comparedwiththerelevantstandardwhichis
showedinnormallineintheTable5,AisbetterthanBinperformancewhichcanbeeasilyfound.
TheNPPoperatorscouldbeevaluatedthroughthemethodrelevanttopsychologicalcharacteristics.Becausethe
humanbeingiscomplicated,differentpsychologicalcharacteristicsdatacandisplaythecapabilityofdifferentNPP

www.ijnese.orgInternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016

operators.Theexperimentisinitial,therelevantresearchcouldbedonetomoreNPPoperatorsandotherindustry
people.
ResearchofPsychologicalCharacteristicsandPerformanceRelativityofNPPOperators
Psychological characteristics and performance relativity are two important aspects of psychology research of
nuclearpowerplantoperators.Inordertogetpsychologicalcharacteristicsandperformancerelativity,therelevant
dataofoperatorsneedtobegotfirstly.ThentherelevantresearchmodelcanbeshowedinFigure4.
Analysis of Behavior Characteristics of
Operators

Model of Psychological
Characteristics of Operators

Model of Performance
Appraisal of Operators

Selection and Draft of

Suitable Measurement Table

Draft of Suitable
Measurement Table of

Measurement of
Psychological
Characteristics of Operators

Performance Evaluation

Measurement of
Performance Appraisal of
Operators

ModuduleofMeasurementofPsychologicalModuleofMeasurementofWorking
CharacteristicsofOperatorsPerformanceofOperators

Analysis of Psychological
Characteristics and Performance
Relativity

FIG.4THERESEARCHMETHODOFRELATIVITY

36 Chinese NPP operators psychological characteristics data were obtained. The data including mean, standard
deviation,maximum,minimumandnormalmodelofeachdimensionofpsychologicalcharacteristicstableof36
operatorsareshowedinTable6.
FromTable6,thereisnomuchdifferencebetweennuclearpowerplantoperatorsandnormalmodelintheaspects
includingGregarious,VenturesomeandAchievementMotivation.TheSelfRegulationislowerthannormalmodel.
EmotionalStabilityandRiskTakingaremuchhigherthannormalmodel.TheotheraspectsincludingSomatization,
ObsessiveCompulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid
IdeationandPsychoticismarelowerthannormalmodel.
Inordertogettherelationshipbetweenpsychologicalcharacteristicsofoperatorsandperformance,therelativity
analysisresultof36operatorsisshowninTable7.
The dimensions can be divided into upper and down two parts from Table 7. The upper 6 personality
characteristicsdimensionsbasicallyarepositiverelativitytoperformance.Thehigherthescoreofdimensionis,the
bettertheperformanceis.TheGregarious,SelfRegulationandEmotionalStabilityareobviouslypositiverelativity
totheworkingperformance(Theworkingperformanceistheaverageoftaskperformanceandsatisfaction).The

InternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016www.ijnese.org

down9psychologicalhealthdimensionsarenegativerelativitytoperformance.Thehigherthescoreofdimension
is, the worse the performance is. The ObsessiveCompulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity and Depression are
obviouslynegativerelativitytotheworkingperformance.
TABLE6TESTINGRESULTOFPSYCHOLOGICALCHARACTERISTICSOFOPERATORS

Min

Max

Mean

Standard
deviation

Normal
model

Normal
modelstandard
deviation

Gregarious

47

68

56.7

5.0

56.02

7.77

Venturesome

40

66

54.6

6.0

SelfConfidence

15

24

19.36

2.23

20.15

1.84

SelfRegulation

44

74

59.7

7.4

62.36

8.83

EmotionalStability

39

68

53.5

7.0

47.12

9.40

RiskTaking

42

67

53.4

5.9

38.68

9.46

AchievementMotivation

45

69

54.3

6.2

53.26

5.88

Somatization

1.00

2.00

1.17

0.26

1.37

0.48

ObsessiveCompulsive

1.00

2.50

1.36

0.41

1.62

0.58

InterpersonalSensitivity

1.00

2.89

1.34

0.46

1.65

0.51

Depression

1.00

2.23

1.22

0.34

1.50

0.59

Anxiety

1.00

2.00

1.14

0.25

1.39

0.43

Hostility

1.00

2.33

1.25

0.41

1.48

0.56

PhobicAnxiety

1.00

1.71

1.09

0.16

1.23

0.41

ParanoidIdeation

1.00

2.83

1.28

0.47

1.43

0.57

Psychoticism

1.00

1.90

1.16

0.24

1.29

0.42

TABLE7RELATIVITYANALYSISOFPSYCHOLOGICALCHARACTERISTICSANDPERFORMANCE

Taskperformance

Satisfaction

Workingperformance

Gregarious

0.405*

0.413*

0.503*

Venturesome

0.381*

0.118

0.235

SelfRegulation

0.273

0.326

0.369*

EmotionalStability

0.194

0.427*

0.388*

RiskTaking

0.240

0.076

0.092

AchievementMotivation

0.258

0.245

0.309

Somatization

0.195

0.231

0.263

ObsessiveCompulsive

0.192

0.343*

0.332*

InterpersonalSensitivity

0.125

0.413*

0.338*

Depression

0.213

0.410*

0.388*

Anxiety

0.244

0.027

0.161

Hostility

0.086

0.319

0.255

PhobicAnxiety

0.013

0.056

0.044

ParanoidIdeation

0.179

0.344*

0.326

Psychoticism

0.035

0.128

0.102

*P<0.05

The data of psychological characteristics and performance of 36 nuclear power plant operators are tested and
analyzed.Theconclusionisasbelow:
1. There are some differences between 15 psychological characteristics dimensions of nuclear power plant

www.ijnese.orgInternationalJournalofNuclearEnergyScienceandEngineering,Volume6,2016

operatorsandnormalmodel.TheSelfRegulationdimensionislowerthannormalmodel.TheEmotionalStability
and Risk Taking dimensions are obviously much higher than normal model. The 9 psychological health
dimensions including Somatization, ObsessiveCompulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety,
Hostility, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid Ideation and Psychoticism are lower than normal model. It shows that the
commonqualityofoperatorsisbetter.
2. The 6 personality characteristics dimensions including Gregarious, Venturesome, SelfRegulation, Emotional
Stability, Risk Taking and Achievement Motivation are positive relativity to the working performance. The
Gregarious,SelfRegulationandEmotionalStabilityareobviouslypositiverelativitytotheworkingperformance.
The 9 psychological health dimensions including Somatization, ObsessiveCompulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity,
Depression,Anxiety,Hostility,PhobicAnxiety,ParanoidIdeationandPsychoticismarenegativerelativitytothe
working performance. The ObsessiveCompulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity and Depression are obviously
negativerelativitytotheworkingperformance.ItshowswhenthehigherthescoreofGregarious,SelfRegulation
and Emotional Stability etc 6 personality characteristics dimensions is, the higher the relevant working
performanceis;whenthehigherthescoreofObsessiveCompulsive,InterpersonalSensitivityandDepressionetc9
psychologicalhealthdimensionsis,thelowertherelevantworkingperformanceis.
3. There are tight relationship between psychological characteristics and performance among risky occupation
people.Thepeoplewhohavehighperformanceusuallyhavegoodcooperation,daringtodothings,calmnessand
psychologicalhealth.Nuclearpowerplantoperatorsarealsoinlinewiththerule.[21]
Since NPP operators belong to risky occupation people. The experiment shows what kind of people should be
searchedfordoingthiskindofjob,becausedifferenttypepeoplewillleadtodifferentresultstosomeextentbased
ondifferentpsychologicalcharacteristics.
OtherApplicationintheReliabilityResearchofNPPOperators
The reliability research of NPP operators includes many aspects and dimensions such as basic quality, position
capabilityandrelevantpsychologicalfactorsetcevaluation.Theprocessisverycomplicated.Whilehumanbeing,
timeandrelatedenvironmentetcfactorsbeingaddeduptogether,thesystemwillbemorecomplicated. [22]Where
theexpertsystemcouldbeutilizedverywelltomakedecisionandjudgeefficiently.Whentheevaluationfactors
morecomplete,theevaluationrulesmoredetail,thefinalresultswillbeneartotherealfact.[23]
InordertosupportNPPoperatorstojudgerapidlyandcorrectly,faultdiagnosismethodhadbeenstudieddeeply.
Therelevantmethodlikegeneticalgorithmsisused.Sincetheimperfectionofexpertknowledge,illusivesignals
and multifaults diagnosing are serious problems to fault diagnosis of NPP, based on Genetic Algorithms (GA),
and the method contraposed the characteristic of the fault diagnosis of NPP and integrated with classical
probability theory. The method can diagnose several faults that happen at the same time and has comparative
adaptability to the imperfection of expert knowledge, illusive signal and other instance. The application can
supportNPPoperatorsverywellinaccidentsdiagnosis.[24]
Summary
ThepaperintroducedtheseveralresearchmethodsonChineseNPPoperatorsreliabilityinpastover10years.All
research methods including NPP operators HCR model, Fuzzy regress model to responding time calculation,
Fuzzysyntheticevaluationandpsychologicalevaluationsystemetc.surroundthemostimportantfactortoNPP
NPPoperatorstodoresearch.
The introduction of these methods shows the possible research dimensions to NPP operators. These dimensions
includeoperationexperimentcapability,thecapabilitybeingrelatedtowhatkindsoffactors,whatkindsoffactors
affecting synthetic capabilities, different psychological characteristics data being related to different type people,
moreover relevant to different performances and etc. The combination of these methods will help evaluate NPP
operatorsverywell.
TherelevantresearchisnotonlytoplayimportantparttoNPPsafeoperation,butalsotogivereferencetoother
industriesonbothresearchmethodsandoperatorsreliability.

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