SunPort presented two papers at the 2021 American Nuclear Society Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control and Human-Machine Interface Technologies virtual conference. 

The first paper is titled I&C System Architectures in a New Light. It focused on six questions that need to be understood in the context of plant level safety engineering work and system architecture level safety engineering work to support the conceptual design of the I&C system of systems. Answering these questions as part of the conceptual design for the I&C system of systems will avoid the regulatory challenge experienced in the review of “highly-integrated” I&C designs in recent large LWR new plant reviews. The answers to these questions provide the necessary framework for stakeholders to understand the I&C design at the individual system and technology level. More importantly, the answers to these questions provide the necessary safety justifications to realize the design optimizations that can lower overall cost based on the safety improvements that come from the simplicity of the hypothetical SMR design.

The second paper is titled Trends for Field Programmable Gate Array Technology and Implications for Safety Critical Applications in Nuclear Power Plants. The research found that there is limited harmonization of FPGA development standards. There is limited harmonization of standards for determining whether digital devices of industrial quality with limited functionality that contain FPGA components are suitable for use in a safety-related nuclear application. There is little harmonization for the treatment of CCFs for devices using FPGA technology by regulatory agencies. Greater harmonization of the nuclear standards and associated regulatory guidance are necessary to realize the full benefits of FPGA technology in the design of I&C safety systems. This harmonization can be achieved by implementing the recommendations offered in this paper.

For more information contact contact@sunport.ch