Operator/Instrumentation Interactions during the Three Mile Island Incident

This paper presents a discussion of the operator/ instrumentation interactions which had an effect on the course of the incident at the Three Mile Island-2 Nuclear Power Plant. In the paper a brief review of the sequence of occurrences at TMI-2 over the first 16 hours of the incident is given with particular emphasis on operator/instrumentation interactions. A breakdown of the six major items that seemed to have contributed to the characteristics of the incident is then given and also an outline of some of the currently proposed operator/instrumentation improvements. The six major items involve water level indication in the reactor, electromatic relief valve operation, auxiliary feed-water flow indication, containment isolation, extended range instrumentation, and computer readout.