Survey of Field Programmable Gate Array Design Guides and Experience Relevant to Nuclear Power Plant Applications

Abstract

From a safety perspective, it is difficult to assess the correctness of FPGA devices without extensive documentation, tools, and review procedures. NUREG/CR-6463, "Review Guidelines on Software Languages for Use in Nuclear Power Plant Safety Systems," provides guidance to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on auditing of programs for safety systems written in ten high-level languages. A uniform framework for the formulation and discussion of language-specific programming guidelines was employed. Comparable guidelines based on a similar framework are needed for FPGA-based systems. The first task involves evaluation of regulatory experience gained by other countries and other agencies, and those captured in existing standards, to identify regulatory approaches that can be adopted by NRC. If existing regulations do not provide a sufficient regulatory basis for adopting relevant regulatory approaches that are uncovered, ORNL will identify the gaps. Information for this report was obtained through publicly available sources such as published papers and presentations. No proprietary information is represented.