Advanced reactor instrumentation and control reliability and risk assessment

Advanced nuclear power reactors will use different approaches to achieving a higher level of safety than the first generation. One approach uses the technological developments in computation and electronics in the form of digital instrumentation and control (I&C) to enhance the reliability and accuracy of information for plant control, responding to the information, and controlling the plant and its systems under normal and upset environments in various states of degradation. Evaluating the reliability and safety of advanced I&C systems requires determining the reliability of the I&C used in the advanced reactors, which involves distributed processing, data pile-up, interactive systems, the man-machine interface, various forms of automatic control, and systems interactions. From these analyses will come an understanding of the potential of the new I&C, and protection from its vulnerabilities to enhance the safe operation of the new plants. Technological, safety, reliability, and regulatory issues associated with advanced I&C for the new reactors are discussed, and suggested approaches to their resolution are presented.<>