Abstract
This experiment, conducted at the OECD Halden Reactor Project, Halden, Norway in the spring 1991, aimed to assess the effect on nuclear power plant operators diagnostic behaviour when using a rule based diagnostic expert system.
The rule based expert system used in the experiment is called DISKET (Diagnosis System Using Knowledge Engineering Technique) and was originally developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). The experiment was performed in the Halden man-machine laboratory using a full scope pressurized water reactor simulator.
Operator performance in terms of quality of diagnosis is improved by the use of DISKET. The use of the DISKET system also influences operators problem solving behaviour. The main difference between the two experimental conditions can be characterised as while the DISKET users during the diagnosis process are following a strategy which is direct and narrowed, the non-DISKET users are using a much broader and less focused search when trying to diagnose a disturbance.
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