Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Approach towards qualification of TCP/IP network components of PFBR

  • Aditya Gour (Homi Bhabha National Institute, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research) ;
  • Tom Mathews (Homi Bhabha National Institute, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research) ;
  • R.P. Behera (Homi Bhabha National Institute, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research)
  • Received : 2021.08.25
  • Accepted : 2022.06.14
  • Published : 2022.11.25
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Abstract

Distributed control system architecture is adopted for I&C systems of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, where the geographically distributed control systems are connected to centralized servers & display stations via switched Ethernet networks. TCP/IP communication plays a significant role in the successful operations of this architecture. The communication tasks at control nodes are taken care by TCP/IP offload modules; local area switched network is realized using layer-2/3 switches, which are finally connected to network interfaces of centralized servers & display stations. Safety, security, reliability, and fault tolerance of control systems used for safety-related applications of nuclear power plants is ensured by indigenous design and qualification as per guidelines laid down by regulatory authorities. In the case of commercially available components, appropriate suitability analysis is required for getting the operation clearances from regulatory authorities. This paper details the proposed approach for the suitability analysis of TCP/IP communication nodes, including control systems at the field, network switches, and servers/display stations. Development of test platform using commercially available tools and diagnostics software engineered for control nodes/display stations are described. Each TCP link behavior with impaired packets and multiple traffic loads is described, followed by benchmarking of the network switch's routing characteristics and security features.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The first author is thankful to Dr. M Kasinathan, Shri. P Manoj and Shri Anindya Bhattacharya, EIG, IGCAR, for their support in establishing the test setup and various technical discussions. The first author is also thankful to Shri. Kulbir Singh, IGCAR, for his suggestions towards improvising the manuscript.

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