DocumentCode :
1978012
Title :
Application of commercial-grade digital equipment in nuclear power plant safety systems
Author :
Chiramal, Matthew
Author_Institution :
US Nucl. Regul. Comm., Washington, DC, USA
fYear :
2001
fDate :
2001
Firstpage :
176
Lastpage :
178
Abstract :
Due to obsolescence, increasing maintenance costs, and the lack of qualified spare parts for the equipment and components of the analog instrumentation and control (I&C) systems in operating domestic nuclear power plants, nuclear utilities are replacing equipment and upgrading certain I&C systems. These activities generally involve changing from analog to digital technology. In many cases commercial products offer practical solutions. Digital I&C systems have the potential to enhance safety, reliability, and availability of the plant systems and improve plant operation. However, the use of digital software-based equipment presents challenges and concerns to the U.S. nuclear industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC´s approach to the review and acceptance of design qualification for digital systems largely focuses on confirming that the applicant or licensee has employed a high-quality development process that incorporated disciplined specification and implementation of design requirements. Inspection and testing is used to verify correct implementation and to validate the desired functionality of the final product
Keywords :
nuclear engineering computing; nuclear power stations; safety; safety-critical software; Nuclear Power Plant Safety Systems; U.S. nuclear industry; digital software-based equipment; high-quality; instrumentation and control; nuclear safety systems; quality assurance; reliability; safety system; specification; testing; Availability; Computer industry; Control systems; Costs; Digital systems; Instruments; Power generation; Power system reliability; Qualifications; Safety;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Reliable Distributed Systems, 2001. Proceedings. 20th IEEE Symposium on
Conference_Location :
New Orleans, LA
ISSN :
1060-9857
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-1366-2
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/RELDIS.2001.969772
Filename :
969772
Link To Document :
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