Industrial Technology Systems Ltd (ITS), a Sellafield Control Systems Framework Holder with extensive experience in legacy system replacement projects for nuclear companies, has been awarded the contract for a Supervisory Control Systems Replacement Project.
The supervisory control system interfaces with seven plant control PLCs and a performance monitoring computer (PMC). The PLCs are used to control elements of the plant equipment which form the operating elements of the dismantling facility. The function of the supervisory computer is to oversee the operation of the cave and ensure that it operates in a safe and secure manner. The supervisory computer controls over 1600 real I/O and provides accountancy functions which are used to record the movement of fuel as it is tracked through the storage cave. This information is passed to various operator interfaces, and to the PMC for management reporting purposes.
All project activities and deliverables are split into two distinct phases of supply. Phase one of the project is to produce a suite of functional requirement specification documentation that underpins the precise functionality carried out by the existing system. Production of the suite of documentation will not only allow the system to be easily migrated onto a supportable modern new platform, but will act as test specifications to demonstrate captured functionality. In addition, the suite of functional requirement documentation will act as lifetime supporting documentation, once the replacement system is delivered to site.
By reverse engineering the existing system ITS will provide a detailed analysis report, which will identify the structure and complexity of the code across all aspects of the supervisory system. This will identify any areas of receptiveness, uniqueness, complexity, redundancy or risk and ensure that the suite of functional requirement documents are logical and complete in their description of the system operation.
This reverse engineering activity will identify plant equipment, modules of code that are associated with the equipment, communications interfaces, communications protocols and display requirements, etc. They will define the common approach to be taken to ensure that these plant devices and their associate code are implemented in a consistent way across the system for the phase two works.
Phase two of the project is to design, develop, build, test and deliver a modern replacement system in accordance with Sellafield and ITS strict standards procedures and guidelines for the production of PES (Programmable Electronic Systems) based systems.
To complement the company’s knowledge and engineering skills, ITS has engineers with practical ‘hands-on’ experience of the existing supervisory control systems. ITS Project Manager Phil White said: “We recognise that this knowledge will be valuable, not only in the performance of this project but also in ensuring that the history of the systems being replaced is recorded for future lifetime support.”