Verification of a safety-related I&C system for nuclear power plant by model checking, test case generation and automatic testing

This article describes a process for modern verification of safety-related I&C (Instrumentation and Control) systems based on algorithm model checking, model-based test case generation and automatic testing. The verification process is compatible with IEC 60880 standard, and utilises methods presented in previously published articles including automatic formalisation and model checking of FBD algorithms and model-based test case generation. This verification process was applied on a real safety-related I&C system for a nuclear power plant. Due to confidentiality of the real application, the process is presented mostly on an simplified example. Nevertheless, the presented results contain information about both the example model and the real safety-related I&C system. These results are utilised for discussion about suitability and efficiency of the presented verification process.