General Electric (GE) Reactor Protection System (RPS)

The General Electric RPS is a complex control system comprising numerous electronic components that combine to provide the ability to produce an automatic or manual rapid shutdown of the nuclear reactor, known as a reactor trip or scram. In spite of its complexity, the General Electric RPS components can be roughly divided into four segments-channels, trip systems, hydraulic control units (HCUs), and control rods.

There are two RPS trip systems, A and B. These trip systems receive trip signals from the channels, process the signals, and then open the HCU scram pilot solenoid valves given appropriate combinations of signals from the channels. Opening the scram pilot solenoid valves bleeds the air from the scram inlet and outlet air-operated valves, allowing them to open and create a flow path for accumulator water to push the control rods up into the core.

The initial system study is documented in "Reliability Study: General Electric Reactor Protection System, 1984-1995" (NUREG/CR-5500, Volume 3 ). The links below provide the current information for the study and latest results.

Current Results:

• GE-RPS 1995 Summary Results

Supporting Information:

• GE-RPS Description
• GE-RPS Fault Tree

Historical Results:

• "Reliability Study: General Electric Reactor Protection System, 1984-1995"
  (NUREG/CR-5500, Volume 3 )