Reliability analysis for different configuration of a trip final actuator interface for a protection system of a research reactor

Reactor Protection Systems are a particularly important type of I&C into safety instrumentation for a nuclear reactor. It has functions that provide on-line defense against failures. RA-10 is a multipurpose Argentinian reactor, it has a protection system redundant and diverse, and it has its final elements actuated by FAI (Final Actuator Interfaces). These interfaces are important because they are the meeting point for the redundant instrumentation channels. This work proposes three possible configurations for the FAI and compares their reliability. In this particular case, the FAI has to demand independently the actuation of final electromagnets. Hence, functional and qualitative analysis is presented for three configurations. This analysis is useful to decide which configuration is applied for the safety system as a FAI to meet project requirement. Then RBD (Reliability Block Diagram) is performed to analyze quantitatively the unreliability of the configurations by using MC (Monte Carlo) method and are again compared its behavior to comply with the reliability requirement. Finally, an implementation and some design characteristics for chosen configuration are presented. (author)