More than 100 nuclear power plants are currently in operation in the US. Current utility actions and industry projections indicate that the majority of these plants will seek plant life extension, resulting in a great need for the replacement of outdated instrumentation and control (I&C) equipment.
       In many countries, not only the US, but also Spain, Korea and Taiwan, licensing of new nuclear power plants or plant upgrades is based on US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) procedures and recognizes NRC approvals. To ensure worldwide distribution, Siemens applied in 1998 for NRC approval of its TELEPERM™ XS for safety-related applications in nuclear power plants. This approval, documented in a Safety Evaluation Report (SER), was issued in May 2000.


State-of-the-Art I&C Systems
Improve Plant Economics
NRC approval is particularly significant for US utilities planning to upgrade I&C systems at their plants. By referencing the SER in their license applications, plant-specific licensing for safety applications using TELEPERM XS is simplified. In addition to enhancing plant safety, I&C upgrades help reduce operating costs and enable process-related improvements to be made.

Siemens received approval In May 2000 from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to install safety I&C systems based on the TELEPERM XS platform for safety-related automation tasks in US nuclear power plants. TELEPERM XS is the first digital system to be awarded generic approval under NRC's new standard NUREG-0800.
       Following a detailed technical and regulatory review of all safety features of the TELEPERM XS, a safety I&C platform, as well as the underlying design features, NRC stated that "the design of TELEPERM XS is acceptable for all safety-related I&C applications and meets the relevant regulatory requirements."

Main Features of Teleperm XS
Framatome ANP is the world's leading supplier of digital I&C systems for all safety-related functions associated with the operation of nuclear power plants. TELEPERM XS is not just another I&C platform but an all-inclusive solution. Technical design features of these digital I&C systems possess future expansion capabilities to ensure a reliable, economical, flexible and scalable system that meets customers' needs.
       The highly functional reliability of TELEPERM XS is based on a philosophy of combining failsafe design with fault tolerance. This applies to both hardware and software. An important requirement in designing safety I&C systems is, for example, that process-related functions be decoupled from I&C functions. This requirement guarantees that a malfunction or accident in a process system will not impact the associated I&C system.
       Both the hardware and the software are of robust design. TELEPERM XS is specially designed to withstand seismic events and is shielded against electromagnetic radiation.
       TELEPERM XS can easily be adapted to plant-specific requirements since the system supports distributed multiple computer systems with almost any degree of redundancy. Its scalability permits development of technically and economically optimized solutions to be developed for the entire spectrum of safety-related tasks.

Comprehensive Qualification
TELEPERM XS was qualified on the basis of national and international nuclear codes and standards by independent German inspection agencies during the course of the development process. These tests, along with the field tests for the first pilot project, were completed in 1997. The NRC approval was based on these tests.
       The review conducted by the authorized inspection agencies for each project is based on a verification and validation plan that guarantees that the software and hardware conform to their as-qualified status. The focus is the acceptance tests performed after manufacturing and the startup tests conducted at the plant.