The International Electrotechnical Commission recently released the second edition of a standard related to requirements for software systems in nuclear power plants. IEC 60880: Nuclear Power Plants—Instrumentation and control systems important to safety—Software aspects for computer-based systems performing category A functions was developed for systems developers and consumers, as well as systems assessors and licensors. The new edition replaces the first edition.

To ensure the high reliability of these important systems and equipment, the new edition describes each state of software generation and documentation, including requirements specifications, design, implementation, verification, validation and operation. The first edition of the standard was published in 1986 and was the first to give recommendations for the use of software in nuclear safety systems.

“Although many of the requirements described in the first edition continue to be relevant, reasons for developing a new edition of IEC 60880 included the need to align with rapidly evolving software engineering techniques during the past 10 years,” says Jean-Paul Bouard, secretary of the committee that developed the standard.

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