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The Thorp Approach to Safe Control

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Abstract

BNFL is currently building the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) at Sellafield in Cumbria. The plant will be controlled and monitored by some 60 control/monitoring units which are interconnected as part of a large Distributed Control System (DCS) which handles over 20,000 inputs and outputs and approximately 70 programmable logic controllers (PLCs) handling between 35 and 70 inputs and outputs each. The safety of the plant is of paramount importance and this will be achieved by a combination of operator control via the DCS and separate safety systems. This paper describes the overall approach to safe control adopted for the plant. It concludes by discussing the way in which the control system is incorporated into the Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) of the plant.

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References

  1. W. E. Bennett, Thermal Oxide Reprocessing at Sellafield. The Chemical Engineer. June 1985.

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  2. Taylor Instruments Report. MOD 300 System Description.

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  3. G. Hensley, The Application of Probabilistic Risk Assessments in Demonstrating the Adequacy of Safety in the Design of Nuclear Chemical Plants. Paper to the ANS/ENS Topical Meeting, San Franciso, USA, February 1985.

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  4. P. W. Ball and L. Curtis. Safety Criteria for Nuclear Chemical Plant. Proceedings of SARSS 83.

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  5. Health and Safety Executive, Guidance on the use of programmable electronic systems in safety related applications, (Draft) 1986.

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© 1987 Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd

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Martin, B.R., Wright, R.I. (1987). The Thorp Approach to Safe Control. In: Daniels, B.K. (eds) Achieving Safety and Reliability with Computer Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3461-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3461-0_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8050-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3461-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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