TY - BOOK
T1 - Conceptual model for safety requirements specification and management in nuclear power plants
AU - Tommila, Teemu
AU - Alanen, Jarmo
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Clearly stated requirements, systematic configuration
management and traceability are a key prerequisite for
the safety of industrial plants. In spite of the long
research tradition and training, in particular in
software engineering, poor requirements are still a major
source of safety problems. Requirements engineering is a
challenge also in nuclear power plant automation. The
characteristics of requirements engineering, such as
multi-disciplinary collaboration, uncertainties and
abstract concepts, are difficult to engineers who prefer
to think in terms of technical solutions. The working
practices and tools for describing requirements are often
vague. Even the standards and guidelines developed for
the nuclear domain fail to provide a clear and consistent
vocabulary for describing power plants. Well-defined
terminology would, however, be needed for communicating
the requirements between various
stakeholders and engineering disciplines.
The goal of this report is to foster mutual understanding
among industrial professionals by providing clear
terminology. Furthermore, the concepts form a basis for
design guidelines and computer tools. Accordingly, the
report is divided into two parts, the first one
discussing general modelling principles and the second
one suggesting a more practical data model for tool
development.
One of the starting points is that requirements cannot be
discussed in isolation from other engineering activities
and system descriptions. Even the boundary between
requirements and design solutions is not always clear.
Therefore, this report is not limited to requirements but
discusses the principles of modelling complex
socio-technical systems in a broader sense. The second
starting point is that the number of requirements and
dependencies requires computer tools. Computer tools, in
turn, need consistent data models. This is why this
report has taken influences also from international
standardisation of product data modelling. It works
towards this vision in a semi-formal, database-oriented
way by defining concepts that might be used in future
computer tools to describe power plant systems and their
requirements.
AB - Clearly stated requirements, systematic configuration
management and traceability are a key prerequisite for
the safety of industrial plants. In spite of the long
research tradition and training, in particular in
software engineering, poor requirements are still a major
source of safety problems. Requirements engineering is a
challenge also in nuclear power plant automation. The
characteristics of requirements engineering, such as
multi-disciplinary collaboration, uncertainties and
abstract concepts, are difficult to engineers who prefer
to think in terms of technical solutions. The working
practices and tools for describing requirements are often
vague. Even the standards and guidelines developed for
the nuclear domain fail to provide a clear and consistent
vocabulary for describing power plants. Well-defined
terminology would, however, be needed for communicating
the requirements between various
stakeholders and engineering disciplines.
The goal of this report is to foster mutual understanding
among industrial professionals by providing clear
terminology. Furthermore, the concepts form a basis for
design guidelines and computer tools. Accordingly, the
report is divided into two parts, the first one
discussing general modelling principles and the second
one suggesting a more practical data model for tool
development.
One of the starting points is that requirements cannot be
discussed in isolation from other engineering activities
and system descriptions. Even the boundary between
requirements and design solutions is not always clear.
Therefore, this report is not limited to requirements but
discusses the principles of modelling complex
socio-technical systems in a broader sense. The second
starting point is that the number of requirements and
dependencies requires computer tools. Computer tools, in
turn, need consistent data models. This is why this
report has taken influences also from international
standardisation of product data modelling. It works
towards this vision in a semi-formal, database-oriented
way by defining concepts that might be used in future
computer tools to describe power plant systems and their
requirements.
KW - nuclear power
KW - systems engineering
KW - requirements engineering
KW - instrumentation and control systems
M3 - Report
T3 - VTT Technology
BT - Conceptual model for safety requirements specification and management in nuclear power plants
PB - VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
CY - Espoo
ER -