Fault detection and diagnosis in nuclear power plant - A brief introduction

This paper reviews fault detection and diagnosis techniques and their application in nuclear power plant. Fault is an unexpected change or malfunction in the system. Fault occurring at a point in the plant may propagate further in the system. It is necessary to arrest fault propagation for economy and safety of plant. For this purpose quick detection of an unexpected deviation of process variable is necessary. This function is achieved with the help of Fault detection and diagnosis unit. Diagnostic unit also assists operators in retaining normal and safe state of the system. In this paper, I have mentioned the characteristic requirements of Fault detection and diagnosis unit and the classification of diagnostic methods. With the help of Fault detection and diagnosis, it is possible to realize continuous monitoring of plant which enables diagnosis of incipient faults and thus prevents unexpected operational upsets. Here, I have done case study for two approaches, and I have observed that use of hybrid approaches for Fault detection and diagnosis yields quick and accurate assistant to the operators compared to conventional approaches.