NOVA, a computer-aided system to monitor proper behaviour of important plant components

In the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant (KRB II), a computer-aided evaluation system for signal messages of the process computer has been developed to application maturity and installed. The self-acting system checks sequences of automatic operations for their proper function. Results are available only minutes after an action has happened. The high level of detail permits to often detect faults before they result in system failure or loss. Since all short-time safety functions are performed automatically, these consistent and detailed checks increase the safety subtantially. In addition, the NOVA-system enables to search all over the signal message report for certain signals as well as it is able to produce an overview protocol of the current (or a past) status of the plant. (orig.)