Development of a path model for human-induced unplanned reactor trips in nuclear power plants

A simple path model for human-induced unplanned reactor trips in nuclear power plants (NPPs) is proposed. The path model consists of four plant states and seven transitions between the four plant states, and describes how NPPs in the normal operation state result in unplanned reactor trips due to human errors. By applying the simple path model to historic unplanned reactor trip data, it is found that two out of five paths take more than 80% of the human-induced unplanned reactor trips. The proposed path model for human-induced unplanned reactor trips in NPPs is expected to provide insights into how human-induced unplanned reactor trips can be reduced by cutting the critical paths to human-induced unplanned reactor trips. 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.