Insights from a reliability review of digital plant protection system

The full text follows: As part of the design efforts for Ulchin nuclear power plant units 5 and 6 of Korea, a reliability analysis of digital plant protection system (DPPS) was performed by ABB-CE. An independent review of the DPPS reliability analysis was undertaken by Hanyang University to assist Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), the nuclear regulatory body of Korea, in evaluating the design acceptability of the digital system. The DPPS is designed to encompass both reactor trip function and ESFAS (engineered safety feature actuation system) initiation function. The major methods used by the ABB-CE to assess the Ulchin 5-6 DPPS reliability are failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) and fault tree analysis. Hence, our independent review was conducted focusing on: -) the establishment of review criteria based on various sources, such as the standard review plan of KINS, 10CFR50 Appendix A, IEEE standards 279, 577, and 603; -) the suitability of the FMEA and fault tree analysis for the Ulchin 5-6 DPPS, including the specific methods used (e.g., for human reliability analysis and common-cause failure analysis), the assumptions made (e.g., with respect to test frequency and watchdog timer coverage), and the data employed (e.g., CCF parameter, human error probability, and processor failure rate); and -) the design acceptability of the DPPS especially as compared to the analog plant protection system from a reliability and safety perspective. The paper shall also discuss key issues requiring further in-depth investigation, such as reliability of programmable logic controllers (PLCs), coverage factor of watchdog timers, and susceptibility of redundant digital units to common cause failure. Sensitivity analyses were carried out to investigate the impact of several parameters of special interest, like the coverage factor of watchdog timer and human error probability (e.g. an operator error to manually trip the reactor, or to mis-calibrate the trip parameters) on the system unavailability. The results of these analyses will be presented along with the insights from our review of the Ulchin 5-6 DPPS reliability