The plant analyst's workbench: A tool to assist in plant data monitoring and diagnostics

Inherent in the safe operation of a nuclear power-generating facility is the monitoring and assessment of many process parameters. In general, these activities are performed on an ''instantaneous'' basis, without any significant consideration of the history of the signals to that point in time. With the advent of sophisticated data transfer and storage facilities comes the ability to permanently store any recorded plant data. With the stored data of each measured parameter is a statistical ''signature'' of the normal behaviour of that parameter. This signature is useful both to the system engineer and to the safety analyst. This paper describes the development of an easy-to-use WINDOWS-based tool, the Plant Analyst's Workbench (PAW) that allows the system engineer or safety analyst to rapidly assess whether the behaviour of any measured plant parameter is consistent with historical norms. The use of the tool in generating a suite of parameter data for use in a safety assessment is demonstrated. The use of the tool in performing a weekly review of overall plant performance, including the automatic generation of an overall performance report, is described. Several examples of the use of the tool in identifying actual plant performance anomalies are presented. (author). 22 figs