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As nuclear plants become more complex, human error becomes more likely

“Plants grow more complex,” said one leading nuclear engineer after Three Mile Island. “Safety hangs increasingly on the human error factor, and we can’t eliminate it. Many of our operators have seen emergencies only on a simulator. The real thing can look quite different, and they may have just 60 terrified seconds to act.”

Nuclear future – proceed with caution, Telegraph UK, 21 March, New reactors have been designed to be much safer, with the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) – planned to be built here over the next few years – especially so. But official documents show that the EPR will produce several times more of the radioactive iodine and caesium that would be rapidly released in an accident than do present-day reactors.

The trouble is that human beings have a way of overriding safety systems. The 1957 Windscale fire occurred when a physicist threw a switch too soon when carrying out a routine operation. The Three Mile Island accident was caused by a whole series of human errors, while at Chernobyl, operators under pressure to complete a test deliberately and progressively switched off every one of its safety systems until, in the words of the chief investigator into the catastrophe, the reactor “was free to do as it wished”.”Plants grow more complex,” said one leading nuclear engineer after Three Mile Island. “Safety hangs increasingly on the human error factor, and we can’t eliminate it. Many of our operators have seen emergencies only on a simulator. The real thing can look quite different, and they may have just 60 terrified seconds to act.”

March 22, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety