Systems Approach to Nuclear Plant Protective Systems Data Program

Douglas United Nuclear engineers have developed and refined a computerized data program for the Hanford nuclear reactor complex over an eight-year period. This program is used for the recording, checking, handling, and utilization of large amounts of test and inspection data on nuclear plant protective systems. The program features data collection at the system level, yet it readily permits data collection at the equipment, component, or failure mode level as needed. Systems critical to nuclear safety, operating availability, or the life of the Hanford reactors are protected by special mandatory testing procedures. Performance data on critical systems generated by these procedures are normally obtained at the system level. The results of these tests are recorded on check (or data) sheets which are contained in a set of Critical Equipment Test Procedures. The test procedures are, in turn, basically derived from the Technical Specifications. These check sheets contain coding and keypunch designations for classifying and inputting the data to the Critical Systems Data File. The data are processed through the data file to audit performance against established criteria and to store the data for retrieval by special analyses programs. The use of this data file provides an automated data processing and storage system which eliminates manual searching and extraction of data from written records and simplifies the inputting of data to other programs. Routine processing programs automatically compare the data with pre-established limits, report out-of-limit conditions, and audit functional test and inspection completions.