Affect analysis of communication failure between channels of reactor protection system to the hot-standby main control station

Plant protection system typically has four redundant channels, which use one-way point to point communication. Every channel use hot-standby architecture control station to improve its reliability. However, every channel communicates with other channels, when the communication of hot station failure, the hot-standby station switch to standby can surely improve its reliability, but may result in many channels switch at the same moment, even trip the reactor protection system, so whether switch or not on communication failure is a hard selection. Based on hot-standby station of FirmSys, This paper introduces FMEA to analysis any failure of communication and the effect, compare the effect of switch or not, give an optimal design. At the present, this optimal design is applied to reactor protection system of YangJiang 5 and 6 and HongYanHe 5 and 6. The paper is an good application of FMEA. (authors)