Westinghouse announced it is close to regulatory approval for a nuclear plant instrumentation and control platform using a field-programmable gate array system the company's says will enhance cyber security.
The Advanced Logic System recently received a final safety evaluation report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to a Westinghouse release Wednesday. The SER is a critical element of the approval process and among the last before the agency allows the system's use in new and upgraded reactors. The technology is scalable and can be applied to single or multiple safety systems. According to company sales literature, these include reactor protection systems, reactor trip systems, diesel load sequencers, main steam and feedwater isolation systems, thermocouple core cooling monitors and post-accident monitoring systems.
The FPGA eliminates the risk of cyber attacks via wired or wireless networks because its logic is burned into its hardware and can't be modified during operation. According to Westinghouse, the first ALS platform was installed in the main steam and feedwater isolation system of an unnamed power plant in 2009.