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WTEC monograph on instrumentation, control and safety systems of Canadian nuclear facilitiesThis report updates a 1989-90 survey of advanced instrumentation and controls (I&C) technologies and associated human factors issues in the U.S. and Canadian nuclear industries carried out by a team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Carter and Uhrig 1990). The authors found that the most advanced I&C systems are in the Canadian CANDU plants, where the newest plant (Darlington) has digital systems in almost 100 percent of its control systems and in over 70 percent of its plant protection system. Increased emphasis on human factors and cognitive science in modern control rooms has resulted in a reduced workload for the operators and the elimination of many human errors. Automation implemented through digital instrumentation and control is effectively changing the role of the operator to that of a systems manager. The hypothesis that properly introducing digital systems increases safety is supported by the Canadian experience. The performance of these digital systems has been achieved using appropriate quality assurance programs for both hardware and software development. Recent regulatory authority review of the development of safety-critical software has resulted in the creation of isolated software modules with well defined interfaces and more formal structure in the software generation. The ability of digital systems to detect impending failures and initiate a fail-safe action is a significant safety issue that should be of special interest to nuclear utilities and regulatory authorities around the world.
Document ID
19950003394
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Contractor Report (CR)
Authors
Uhrig, Robert E.
(Oak Ridge National Lab. TN., United States)
Carter, Richard J.
(Oak Ridge National Lab. TN., United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1993
Publication Information
ISBN: 1-883712-24-6
Subject Category
Nuclear And High-Energy Physics
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.26:198566
NASA-CR-198566
PB93-218295
Accession Number
95N71514
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF ENG-91-11333
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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