Some insights about the characteristics of communications observed from the off-normal conditions of nuclear power plants

The result of existing research has revealed that maintaining good communication is one of the essential parts of securing the safety of a large and complex process system. Because the possibility of inappropriate communication would increase in proportion to the increase in workload, it is necessary to identify the characteristics of the communications of human operators who have to accomplish their required tasks under a high workload level. For this reason, the characteristics of communications observed under simulated off-normal conditions of nuclear power plants (NPPs) are investigated. As a result, it is observed that the human operators working in NPPs show distinctive communication characteristics with respect to the nature of an off-normal condition. Therefore, although additional data collections as well as research activities are indispensable, the results of this study would be a good starting point to take further steps toward reducing the possibility of inappropriate communications. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.