The George Washington University
University Seminar on Reflexive Systems
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 from 10:00am - 12:00pm
Duques Hall, Room 420
2201 G Street NW
Applying Cybernetics in the Nuclear Industry
John L. (Jack) Benson
425-557-2185 (H/O)
Abstract
This session will consist of Jack's presentation, and interactive discussions with the audience, focused on his experiences and results in applying Cybernetic thinking and methodologies in various organizational contexts. The objectives for these efforts were to resolve contentious issues, carry out program activities to reach goals in the most effective ways, and respond to management initiatives. As such, the presentation will focus on his utilization of Interpretive Structural Modeling, Conversation Theory, Requisite Variety, Human Factors and a few other Cybernetician's "tools". There will be some hand outs and hard copy displays to illustrate and supplement the presentation for those interested in details or for follow-up.
Jack Benson has about 50 years of experience, mostly in the nuclear industry. He started as a then recent BS graduate in Chemical Engineering providing technical support to the nuclear reactors at Hanford, WA, which were producing Plutonium for the weapons program. Later, he worked for GE in San Jose, California, helping to design, build and operate nuclear power reactors, world-wide, and specialized in nuclear safety and regulatory licensing activities. During this time he received his Professional Engineer’s license in Nuclear Engineering.
As it became clear that deterministic and analytical approaches to issues and problems, both technical and organizational, were not sufficient or optimal in many circumstances, he became immersed in a graduate program leading to his MS in Cybernetic Systems. He then went to work for a nuclear utility which was operating two nuclear power plants on Lake Ontario. There he was able to carry out several systemically based programs which variously resolved some difficult problems, optimized some procedural activities and explored new approaches to activities such as operator training and individual performance evaluations.
Still later, as an individual consultant, he got involved in many different projects/jobs, some not nuclear based, where he was able to utilize his past results and experience to guide activities in systemically fruitful directions. The last was a Human Factors Program for Bechtel National, which is now building a unique plant back at Hanford to vitrify the leftover high level nuclear waste still stored there in liquid form from the previous weapons program.
Now retired, Jack has carried out long term research on cognitive processes, which was an extensive extrapolation and generalization from his previous work with operators on a control room design review. This resulted in a paper, “The Physics of Epistemology”, published in the International Journal of Nuclear Knowledge Management. A second paper, describing his experience in carrying out the systemically based programs mentioned above, has now been submitted for publication in a systems journal. Meanwhile, a third paper, which will be a further extrapolation of the first and go further into other fundamental mind-based subjects, is now under preparation. Thus, he remains active and interested.