Reactor protection system with automatic checkout for PWR's in the U.S

Reactor protection systems encompass the whole electric and mechanical installation and the circuit arrangements whose signals are required to initiate measures protecting the reactor and the safety containment. These signals include the output signals actuating reactor scram and the safety systems necessary to cope with the respective incidents. The reactor protection system introduced in this contribution is the latest development for pressurized water reactors built by Combustion Engineering in the United States. The reactor protection system in principle includes the reactor protection actuation system and the safety actuation system. Both systems use measuring channels monitoring selected parameters of the reactor plant important for the safety of the nuclear power station. The reactor protection system is equipped with an effective monitoring and checkout system. This system uses redundant checkout computers composed of mini-computers and is designed so as to guarantee continuous automatic checkout of the reactor protection system. (orig.)