EPRI #3002002990, Digital Common-Cause Failure Susceptibility, 2014 Project Status
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Digital Common-Cause Failure Susceptibility 2014 Project Status 3002002990 Digital Common-Cause Failure Susceptibility 2014 Project Status 3002002990 Technical Update, November 2014 EPRI Project Manager R. Torok All or a portion of the requirements of the EPRI Nuclear Quality Assurance Program apply to this product. ELECTRIC POWER RESEARCH INSTITUTE 3420 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304-1338 . PO Box 10412, Palo Alto, California 94303-0813 . USA 800.313.3774 . 650.855.2121 . [email protected] . www.epri.com DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES THIS DOCUMENT WAS PREPARED BY THE ORGANIZATION(S) NAMED BELOW AS AN ACCOUNT OF WORK SPONSORED OR COSPONSORED BY THE ELECTRIC POWER RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC. (EPRI). 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REFERENCE HEREIN TO ANY SPECIFIC COMMERCIAL PRODUCT, PROCESS, OR SERVICE BY ITS TRADE NAME, TRADEMARK, MANUFACTURER, OR OTHERWISE, DOES NOT NECESSARILY CONSTITUTE OR IMPLY ITS ENDORSEMENT, RECOMMENDATION, OR FAVORING BY EPRI. THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS PREPARED THIS REPORT: Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Southern Engineering Services, Inc. Applied Reliability Engineering, Inc. THE TECHNICAL CONTENTS OF THIS PRODUCT WERE NOT PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE EPRI QUALITY PROGRAM MANUAL THAT FULFILLS THE REQUIREMENTS OF 10 CFR 50, APPENDIX B. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF 10 CFR PART 21. This is an EPRI Technical Update report. A Technical Update report is intended as an informal report of continuing research, a meeting, or a topical study. It is not a final EPRI technical report. NOTE For further information about EPRI, call the EPRI Customer Assistance Center at 800.313.3774 or e-mail [email protected]. Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI, and TOGETHER…SHAPING THE FUTURE OF ELECTRICITY are registered service marks of the Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. Copyright © 2014 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following organizations prepared this report: Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Principal Investigator R. Torok Southern Engineering Services, Inc. 331 Allendale Drive Canton, Georgia 30115 Principal Investigator B. Geddes Applied Reliability Engineering, Inc. 1478 27th Avenue San Francisco, CA 94122 Principal Investigator D. Blanchard This report describes research sponsored by EPRI. This publication is a corporate document that should be cited in the literature in the following manner: Digital Common-Cause Failure Susceptibility: 2014 Project Status. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2014. 3002002990. iii ABSTRACT Owner/operators of nuclear plants need to be able to systematically identify and assess susceptibilities to potential digital system failures and unintended behaviors that can lead to failures in plant systems, including common-cause failures (CCF). These vulnerabilities are managed using a combination of preventive and mitigative measures, but there is no consensus approach for crediting such measures to develop assurance that there is adequate protection against the consequences of potential failures and unintended behaviors involving digital systems. This concern applies to both safety and non-safety systems. While methods for ensuring high dependability in safety systems are generally well developed, non-safety systems typically use different design and quality assurance approaches; and corresponding consensus guidance and acceptance criteria for them are not well established. This technical update provides a status report on an ongoing EPRI project that is developing practical guidance to help utility engineers, equipment suppliers, and system integrators assess and manage a full range of digital instrumentation and control (I&C) failure and CCF susceptibilities. It describes the important technical issues and provides a preliminary description of the overall approach being developed by the project team, including key underlying concepts and principles that form the technical basis of the approach. The final product will be published in 2015. Keywords Common-cause failure (CCF) Coping analysis Diversity Digital Instrumentation and control systems v CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................1-1 2 TECHNICAL ISSUES ...........................................................................................................2-1 Common-Cause Failure .....................................................................................................2-1 Software CCF and Design Defects .....................................................................................2-3 Protecting Against the Effects of CCF ................................................................................2-4 3 TECHNICAL APPROACH ....................................................................................................3-1 Key Terms ..........................................................................................................................3-1 Protection = Preventive and/or Mitigative Measures ...........................................................3-2 Defects and Triggers ..........................................................................................................3-3 Level of Interest ..................................................................................................................3-4 Diversity .............................................................................................................................3-5 4 ASSESSING AND MANAGING DIGITAL FAILURE SUSCEPTIBILITIES ...........................4-1 Holistic Approach ...............................................................................................................4-1 Safety versus Non-Safety ...................................................................................................4-2 Safety Systems ............................................................................................................4-2 Non-Safety Systems .....................................................................................................4-2 Considerations for Assessment ..........................................................................................4-3 5 PROJECT STATUS AND DELIVERABLES .........................................................................5-1 Guideline Description .........................................................................................................5-1 Schedule ............................................................................................................................5-1 6 REFERENCES .....................................................................................................................6-1 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2-1 Analog Plant ...........................................................................................................2-2 Figure 2-2 Analog Plant with a Digital Feedwater Control (DFW) Upgrade ...............................2-2 Figure 2-3 Digital Feedwater Control and Digital Electrohydraulic (DEH) Turbine Control ........2-3 Figure 3-1 Protection = Preventive and/or Mitigative Measures................................................3-2 Figure 3-2 Conditions Required for Digital Failures and Digital CCFs ......................................3-4 Figure 3-3 Plant Architecture Hierarchy Illustrating “Level of Interest” Issue .............................3-5 ix 1 INTRODUCTION Operating nuclear plants are gradually transitioning much of their aging and obsolete instrumentation and control (I&C) equipment from analog to digital technology. However, the introduction of software-based instrumentation and control (I&C) equipment in critical safety and control system applications in nuclear power plants raises the concern that latent software and other ‘digital’ faults could create new failure modes and unintended behaviors that might defeat traditional protective features. New nuclear plants will be ‘all digital;’ they will use more extensive and highly integrated I&C systems than existing plants, with correspondingly greater potential for new failure modes and unanticipated behaviors. Owner/operators of nuclear plants need to be able to systematically identify and assess susceptibilities to potential digital system failures and unintended behaviors that can lead to failures in plant systems, including common-cause failures (CCF). These vulnerabilities are managed using a combination of preventive and mitigative measures, but there is no consensus approach for crediting such measures to develop