Effective Transition from Panel Board to CRT-Based Process Control.

摘要

Nuclear process operators have controlled process operations using Panel-Board Mounted Instrumentation at Hanford since 1943. The decision was made to upgrade the B Plant Defense Waste Processing facility to state-of-the-art CRT-based process control, commonly referred to as a Distributive Control System to improve operations safety, plant efficiency, and product quality. The safe and effective transition from PBMI to a DCS was the result of a cooperative effort between engineering, operations, and training, with full plant management support. Many elements of the upgrade had to be addressed: operator apprehension, vendor courses for the instructor and engineers, training interface with engineering and procurement, closed-loop communications, and structured implementation. Plant management considers this project a model example of effective implementation of new technology. This was a proactive and cooperative approach on a major facility upgrade. All too often training is left out of the planning stages on such projects. This more often than not creates reactive and unproductive training responses because of a lack of technical expertise and program development time. Other nuclear processing facilities are or will be facing this challenge. This paper presents the challenges and successes encountered during the transition to CRT-based process control. The intent of this presentation is to better prepare other training organizations for this type of transition. 2 figs. (ERA citation 14:022100)