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Highly Integrated Control Rooms

The primary objective of this research project is to develop a comprehensive process for confirming that an integrated control room design is in conformance with NRC regulations and associated standards for areas such as electrical separation and independence between safety-related displays and controls and nonsafety-related displays and controls, single-failure criteria, equipment qualification of safety-related displays and controls for Class 1E use, and data communication isolation and cyber security.

An important source of acceptance criteria is the experience that regulatory agencies in other countries and the United States have gained in their reviews of highly integrated control rooms and from the lessons learned from operating experience. This research project will survey the approaches used by other countries (e.g., France, Finland, Japan, and Korea) and other U.S. agencies (e.g., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense) for licensing or certifying highly integrated “glass cockpit style” control rooms and will compare the results of the survey with the regulatory criteria now used by the NRC. The research will use the information gained from the survey to develop guidance and associated acceptance criteria for use by the staff in confirming that integrated control room designs are in conformance with NRC requirements.

Draft regulatory guidance is scheduled for completion in late 2007, and final regulatory guidance should be completed in mid-2008.

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Wednesday, July 11, 2007