ICON: Intellligent Control (for efficient nuclear applications)

Wireless control systems in Nuclear Applications can enable economic growth and improve asset integrity. The ability to remotely-power and securely communicate control responses and asset information within a Nuclear Plant, can make control systems more robust and secure to external influences, such as plant sabotage or loss of electrical power, whilst also making the plant safer for operatives, reducing the number of human interactions required for servicing connections, lowering dosage. The deletion of power/data harnesses from in-reactor applications can facilitate faster deployment and replacement of instrumentation, and flexibility of deployment in hard-to-reach areas can enable monitoring of asset integrity to currently unachievable levels – these advantages can contribute to reduced service downtime and increased profitability for new build, existing plants and decommissioning. This research project explores the feasibility of designing a Nuclear Control System using wireless technology; as well as designing system architectures the research will determine appropriate control contexts, the resultant system reliability claims and approvals route to validate the viability of deploying this technology in Nuclear applications across the UK’s Civil Nuclear landscape.