Safety, reliability, and productivity in the nuclear industry result from a systematic consideration of human performance. A plant or other facility consists of both the engineered system and the human users of that system. It is therefore crucial that engineering activities consider the humans who will be interacting with those systems. Engineering design, specifically instrumentation and control (I&C) design, can influence human performance by driving how plant personnel carry out work and respond to events within a nuclear power plant. As a result, human–system interfaces (HSIs) for plant operators as well as the maintenance and testing of the I&C system cannot be designed by isolated disciplines. The focus of this publication is to integrate knowledge from the disciplines of human factors engineering (HFE) and I&C to emphasize an interdisciplinary approach for the design of better HSIs and consequently improved human performance in nuclear power plants. This is accomplished by practical explanations of the HFE processes and corresponding outputs that inform the I&C development. More specifically, the publication addresses issues in the design process where collaboration between HFE, I&C and other important disciplines and stakeholders is paramount and identifies key tools and tasks for exchanging inputs and outputs between different design disciplines, particularly I&C and HFE. The practical information provided in this publication is intended to support Member States’ capabilities to improve their approach to I&C through the consideration of HFE.

This publication provides specific recommendations on research reactor instrumentation and control systems and software important to safety, including instrumentation and control system architecture and associated components, from sensors to actuators, operator interfaces and auxiliary equipment, to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. The recommendations and guidance apply to both the design and configuration management of instrumentation and control systems for new research reactors and the modernization of the instrumentation and control systems at existing research reactor facilities. In addition, this Safety Guide provides recommendations and guidance on human factors engineering and human-machine interfaces, and for computer based systems and software for use in instrumentation and control systems important to safety. This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-37, which it supersedes.

The main subject matter of the book is related to the demands of research and industrial centers for diagnostics, monitoring, and decision-making systems that result from the increasing complexity of automation and systems, the need to ensure the highest level of reliability and safety, and continuing research and the development of innovative approaches to fault diagnosis. Most welcome are combinations of domains of engineering knowledge for diagnosis, including detection, isolation, localization, identification, reconfiguration, and fault-tolerant control. This field is open to new challenges, including industrial diagnostics, diagnostics of computer systems and networks, as well as non-industrial applications in the form of medical diagnostics, especially those based on artificial intelligence and deep neural networks. Our community is mainly interested in the following six topics: fault detection, isolation, and identification (FDI); (ii) fault-tolerant control systems; (iii) process safety, quality, and reliability; (iv) medical diagnostics; as well as (v) methodologies based on mathematical modeling, parameter identification and state estimation, qualitative models, statistical and signal processing, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic and rough sets, expert systems, neural networks; and (vi) industrial applications of diagnostics in fault-tolerant problems, safety, monitoring and alarming, quality control, computer systems and networks, diagnostic software, software reliability, medicine and therapy, environment protection, production control, and other industries such as chemistry, electronics, and power systems. The book is divided into six parts: (I) Artificial Intelligence in Medicine; (II) Cybersecurity; (III) Artificial Neural Networks; (IV) Fault Detection; (V) Systems Modeling; and (VI) Adaptive, Robust and FTC Systems.

This book gathers selected papers from the Second International Symposium on Software Reliability, Industrial Safety, Cyber Security and Physical Protection of Nuclear Power Plant, held in Chengdu, China on August 23–25, 2017. The symposium provided a platform of technical exchange and experience sharing for a broad range of experts, scholars and nuclear power practitioners. The book reflects the state of the art and latest trends in nuclear instrumentation and control system technologies, as well as China’s growing influence in this area. It offers a valuable resource for both practitioners and academics working in the field of nuclear instrumentation, control systems and other safety-critical systems, as well as nuclear power plant managers, public officials and regulatory authorities.

The nuclear industry and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) have been working for several years on the development of an adequate process to guide the replacement of aging analog monitoring and control instrumentation in nuclear power plants with modern digital instrumentation without introducing off-setting safety problems. This book identifies criteria for the USNRC's review and acceptance of digital applications in nuclear power plants. It focuses on eight areas: software quality assurance, common-mode software failure potential, systems aspects of digital instrumentation and control technology, human factors and human-machine interfaces, safety and reliability assessment methods, dedication of commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software, the case-by-case licensing process, and the adequacy of technical infrastructure.