August 7, 2007 - On July 18, 2007, Invensys Process Systems vice president, Ken Brown, along with other executives from industry, non-governmental organizations, and the US government, briefed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRC) on the application of modern digital instrumentation and control (I&C) technology in nuclear power plants. Mr. Brown's presentation, "Digital Modernization Hurdles and Solutions," encompassed a number of critical issues, including:
- Diversity, Defense in Depth (D3)
- Risk-Informed Digital I&C
- Operator Training
- Cyber Security
- Lessons Learned from Other Industries
In his conclusion, Mr. Brown stated, "We're very pleased with the progress that's taking place as of late with the recent working groups and the discussions with the [NRC] staff. Within Invensys, we'd like to help facilitate the transfer of knowledge from other mission critical and high-reliability industries and how we can apply that knowledge to the nuclear area."
Other executives participating in this NRC briefing included:
- Amir Shakarami, Senior VP Engineering & Technical Services, Exelon Corporation
- Chuck Welty, Technical Executive, Nuclear Power Sector, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
- Cynthia McGinnis, Manager, Nuclear Systems Engineering, New Plants Engineering, Westinghouse Electric Company
- Thomas Bowe, Executive Director of Reliability Integration, PJM Interconnection
- Homayoon Dezfuli, System Safety Manager, Safety and Assurance Requirements Division, Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The above briefings were followed by an NRC Staff Presentation by Luis Reyes, Executive Director of Operations.
The full transcript of the July 16th NRC briefing is available at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/tr/2007/20070718.pdf.