Overview of the 2017 revision to IEEE standard 1082: Guide for incorporating human reliability analysis into probabilistic risk assessments for nuclear power generating stations and other nuclear facilities

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 1082, a guide which covers human reliability analysis (HRA) for nuclear power applications, was introduced in 1997. While the guide has proven foundational for HRA, many elements of the guide are now commonplace, while the scope and diversity of HRA methods has increased. A working group of 16 HRA experts was convened to review the applicability of IEEE-1082 and determine possible revisions. The working group agreed on the value of reaffirming the guide, because it remains a foundational document that is also uniquely method neutral. The working group revised the guide, including updated references and treatment of contemporary applications of HRA. The revisions to IEEE-1082 were ratified in late 2017, and the revised guide is now available. This paper highlights changes to the guide in the current revision and overviews the approach to integrating HRA into risk assessments. This paper also compares IEEE-1082 to other guidance documents like the Electric Power Research Institute’s Systematic Human Action Reliability Procedure (SHARP1), the American Society for Mechanical Engineers standard for probabilistic risk assessment (ASME/ANS RA-Sb-2013), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Good Practices for HRA (NUREG-1792). IEEE-1082 maintains a unique position as a general framework for conducting HRA. While optimized for nuclear power applications, the guide also provides useful guidance for HRA in non-nuclear domains.