IEC 61508:2010 is the latest edition of the general functional safety standard for E/E/PE systems. IEC 61511:2016 is the latest edition of the functional safety standard for E/E/PE systems in IACS. Last Thursday I gave a short talk (twice) to the German electrotechnical standardisation organisation DKE’s annual one-day get-together event, now called the Innovation Campus…
Restarting a nuclear reactor is a complex and sensitive process. The process is essentially controlled through the neutron density at any point. The density is governed by processes which are fundamentally exponential in time, and is controlled by damping the exponent in various ways. It is physically possible for the process to become uncontrolled, on…
The security of safety-related and safety-critical systems with components incorporating digital processing is becoming a major issue. We have seen partial control taken, from a remote location, of a car which is being driven. A major electricity outage in an East-European country was caused by intrusion into the digital parts of control systems. Intrusions into…
So they have him. The bard who has spent a lifetime one step away, out of step, keeping us guessing, not playing the game, any of them, finally tripped up. Fated to turn up in Stockholm in white tie with the world’s press? Assimilated in grand style? Maybe the shortest Nobel acceptance speech ever? (“I’d…
I own a largish building of about 360 sq.m., of divided use, some of which is my home. It was built about 110 years ago. Heating it is an issue. Heating and hot water cost me about 40,000 kWh per annum, about 110 kWh per day. I use a hyperefficient gas heater and pay the…