Evolution of the Enhanced CANDU-6 Monitoring and Control System Design

Abstract

This paper describes the enhancements being made to the instrumentation and control (I&C) architecture and design approaches for the display/control systems in the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL®) Enhanced CANDU 6® (EC6®) plant design. These enhancements and design approaches ensure that the fundamental premise of independence between safety and process control is not compromised and that the reliability targets for each layer of protection are fulfilled to meet overall plant safety goals.

Advances in digital technology and modern human factors engineering principles must be considered by I&C designers without sacrificing the overall principles of defence-in-depth and the independence of safety functions (credited in the safety case). AECL has put a significant amount of effort into applying new technologies to the existing CANDU® 6 (C6) design while taking precautions to retain the original design intent and support the documented safety case.