Development of network devices supporting communication independence in NPP I&C systems

As advanced digital I&C systems of nuclear power plants or research reactors are being introduced to replace analog systems, a data communication network is necessary for data exchanges between I&C systems of nuclear power plants or research reactors. Data communication network technology may have significant impact on I&C systems. As the safety I&C system is composed of redundant channels to enhance the performance of the safety functions and data communication system is used to transmit the data generated by the digital I&C systems, communication independence is required to mitigate the risk of safety I&C system failure. Therefore this paper mainly discusses the issues related to the communication independence and the current status of network devices we designed, developed, and validated to satisfy the requirements of function, performance, and communication independence.