Contribution to the safety assessment of instrumentation and control software for nuclear power plants: Application to SPIN N4

Technical Report · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/90925· OSTI ID:90925

Soubies, B.; Henry, J. Y.; Le Meur, M. ^[1]

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1. and others

1300 MWe pressurised water reactors (PWRs), like the 1400 MWe reactors, operate with microprocessor-based safety systems. This is particularly the case for the Digital Integrated Protection System (SPIN), which trips the reactor in an emergency and sets in action the safeguard functions. The softwares used in these systems must therefore be highly dependable in the execution of their functions. In the case of SPIN, three players are working at different levels to achieve this goal: the protection system manufacturer, Merlin Gerin; the designer of the nuclear steam supply system, Framatome; the operator of the nuclear power plants, Electricite de France (EDF), which is also responsible for the safety of its installations. Regulatory licenses are issued by the French safety authority, the Nuclear Installations Safety Directorate (French abbreviation DSIN), subsequent to a successful examination of the technical provisions adopted by the operator. This examination is carried out by the IPSN and the standing group on nuclear reactors. This communication sets out: the methods used by the manufacturer to develop SPIN software for the 1400 MWe PWRs (N4 series); the approach adopted by the IPSN to evaluate the safety software of the protection system for the N4 series of reactors.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research; Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 90925
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CP--0140-Vol.1; ON: TI95011672
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
C CODES
DIGITAL SYSTEMS
ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR PROTECTION SYSTEMS