1. Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering
A Study on ATOPS
Seung Jun Lee
Dept. of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering
KAIST
August 12, 2002

2. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Contents
Introduction
ATOPS
What is ATOPS?
Human operator vs. ATOPS
Benefits
Prototype of ATOPS
Role of ATOPS
Architecture
Further Study
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

3. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Introduction (1/2)
In large and complex machine systems, many operations have become more difficult for users, resulting in a greater potential for operation errors.
Especially, in complex and safety-critical machine systems such as NPPs, unexpected errors caused by human operators could be causes of serious accidents and heavy loss.
There have been many researches on the human cognition and HMI.
Various computerized procedure systems have been developed during the past decade.
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

4. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Introduction (2/2)
The remote monitoring and control system is a network-based system, network accidents can isolate human operators in remote place from NPP.
If some accidents isolate human operators in local as well as in remote area from NPP, there will be no one who can manage the plant and it can cause serious accidents. Therefore, we need to develop ATOPS to cope with these emergency situations.
In normal and abnormal situations, operators are usually to handle lots of information. ATOPS, which is to monitor the plant status, to detect and diagnose the status, and to perform control actions, can act as an operation support system and it can reduce the human operator’s workload.
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

5. ATOPS (Automated Operating Procedure System) What is ATOPS?
ATOPS performs actions as main control room (MCR) operators do.
monitor the plant status
detect anomalies
diagnose the status
perform control actions on the plant according to corresponding operating procedures
ATOPS operates a NPP according to prescribed procedures using FCPN.
FCPN, which is a colored Petri nets added with fuzzy concept, is a kind of Petri nets and it has more expressive power than other Petri Nets.
For flexible decision making capability, ATOPS has knowledge database.
The knowledge database of ATOPS is for intelligent functions of ATOPS. The knowledge database has much information on various situations such as experiences of human operators.
ATOPS can not only be used as the automation system against emergency situations, but also as the operator support system for normal and abnormal states.
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

6. Human Operator vs. ATOPS
Advantage
Reasoning
Fast calculation speed
No error
Disadvantage
Human error
Cannot handle unexpected situations
Remark
Human factor
System V/V
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7. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Benefits
ATOPS will enhance safety of NPP by maintaining it in a stable and safe state in emergency situations even when the operators are not available.
Various operation processes of NPP can be executed by ATOPS and it can prevent human errors and reduce workload of operators in normal and abnormal states.
Developing ATOPS can also help evaluate operating procedures, since detailed analysis of operating procedures is required for the development of ATOPS. ATOPS can also test the operating procedures in connection to real plants or simulators.
ATOPS can not only be used for future NPPs but also for existing NPPs because architectures and principles of ATOPS are independent from specific reactor types.
Automation is a big trend of control technology in industrial field, so ATOPS will support evolution of automation technology.
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

8. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Prototype of ATOPS (1/2)
With the prototype of ATOPS, simulations of some emergency situations such as loss of coolant accident (LOCA) and steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) have been carried out in connection to FISA-2/WS simulator which is a simulator for the KORI 2 NPP unit.
From these simulations, it was shown that ATOPS can manage the emergency states properly according to EOP.
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

9. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Prototype of ATOPS (2/2)
Single Alarm
Alarm
Trip or SI
Normal
State
ARP
AOP
EOP
HSB
Multiple Alarm
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10. Role of ATOPS (1/3)
Monitoring/
Detection
Situation
Assessment
Response
Planning
Implementation
Display
System
Instrumentation
Control/Protection
Plant
Fault Diagnosis
Decision Support
Integrated model for I&C systems, MMI and human operator
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Role of ATOPS (2/3)
Monitoring/
Detection
Situation
Assessment
Response
Planning
Response
Implementation
ATOPS
Implementation
System
Display
System
Fault Diagnosis
System
Decision Support
System
Instrumentation
System
Control/Protection
System
Plant
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

12. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Role of ATOPS (3/3)
Monitoring/
Detection
Situation
Assessment
Response
Planning
Response
Implementation
ATOPS
Decision Support
System
Implementation
System
Display
System
Fault Diagnosis
System
Autonomous Operating
System
Instrumentation
System
Control/Protection
System
Plant
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

13. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Architecture
Instrumentation
System
Decision Support
System
Fault Diagnosis
System
Procedure
Database
Inference
Engine
Knowledge
Database
Autonomous Operating
System
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology

14. Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology
Further Study
Review of automation systems in other industrial fields such as autopilot systems in aeronautics area.
Review of automatic diagnosis systems.
Review of systems using knowledge database.
Korea Advanced Institute Science and Technology