Application of ecological interface design in nuclear power plant (NPP) operator support system

Most publications confirm that an ecological interface is a very efficient tool to supporting operators in recognition of complex and unusual situations and in decision-making. The present article describes the experience of implementation of an ecological interface concept for visualization of material balance in a drum separator of RBMK-type NPPs. Functional analysis of the domain area was carried out and revealed main factors and contributors to the balance. The proposed ecological display was designed to facilitate execution of the most complicated cognitive operations, such as comparison, summarizing, prediction, etc. The experimental series carried out at NPPs demonstrated considerable reduction of operators' mental load, time of reaction, and error rate.