THE BIG PICTURE: Nuclear I&C

Progress in electronics and information technology has created incentives to replace traditional analog instrumentation and control (I&C) systems in nuclear power plants with digital I&C systems, or systems based on computers and microprocessors. About 40% of the world’s operating reactors have been modernized to include at least some digital I&C systems, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. From another perspective, 90% of all digital I&C installations have been modernization projects at existing reactors; 10% have been at new reactors. POWER looks at nuclear plants around the world that are leading the digital revolution.

–Copy and artwork by Sonal Patel, Senior Writer