Virtual Reality (VR) is a viable alternative as a data source for operator performance for the calculation of Human Error Probability (HEP). However, its use in Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is not without challenges. The objective of this work was to study the feasibility of evaluating HEP for field actions and internal fire event by gathering HRA data from virtual reality (VR) based simulators and consolidating it with existing HRA data from real simulator of an advanced reactor and plant event reports of an operating nuclear reactor (total: 370 data points). The VR-based environment provided a simulation of an internal fire event which the operator had to mitigate. Conditional context based HEP was evaluated using three different techniques, namely Bayesian inference, probability distribution fit to “operator response time” and Bayesian Networks. The HEP calculated in the VR setup was found to be approximately an order higher in magnitude than that calculated for the real environment, owing to cyber sickness. The result shows that despite VR technology being an excellent medium to inculcate operators for internal fire scenario, it still needs to evolve further such that the immersive experience emulates the real experience to an extent that enables instilling confidence in the evaluated HEP. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.
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