System engineering for future nuclear power plant operation

Conducted at the CEA-EDF-Framatome research institute (I3P), this project seeks to deliver an integrated environment for multidisciplinary engineering teams (operations, ergonomics, etc.) and plant operators. It will enable prototyping and evaluation of I&C architectures with diverse requirements, including functional and safety criteria. The environment will also incorporate tools for real-time operational requirements monitoring and operator training.

The project has four components:

1. Automation of operational requirement monitoring using the ARTiMon tool to prevent undesirable or suboptimal operational practices;
2. Topological transformation of mechanical schematics for control-specific applications, with the central data model defined in our Papyrus tool;
3. A formalization language (combining process algebra and fuzzy logic) to convert operational procedures—currently represented as flowcharts or in natural language—into virtual operators for validation;
4. An I&C function tool to assign system roles. The environment will link multiple modeling levels, allowing engineers to measure how design changes impact interconnected systems. Integration with existing nuclear engineering tools is also being explored. ARTiMon is currently being brought to market at EDF’s request. Meanwhile, the I&C function allocation tool is undergoing internal deployment within EDF.

Contributors to this article:

• Jean-Pierre GALLOIS, research engineer, at CEA-List
• Nicolas RAPIN, research engineer, at CEA-List

• Find out more about the 2024 advances of the “Supporting societal transitions” chapter in the CEA-List 2024 activity report