Preface

This is the first edition of CSA N290.14, Qualification of pre-developed software for use in safety-related instrumentation and control applications in nuclear power plants.

This is one of a series of Standards covering safety-related equipment in nuclear power plants. General quality assurance requirements for the life cycle of these plants are specified in CSA N286.

This Standard establishes a qualification process for pre-developed software used in safety-related equipment in nuclear power plants and provides guidance for maintaining qualification once it has been established. This Standard addresses application-specific qualification. It outlines a set of qualification concerns and failure modes that allow candidate products to be assessed within the context of their applications. This Standard is intended to be used by the licensees of nuclear power plants as well as the designers, manufacturers, and fabricators of nuclear power plant systems and components.

This Standard adopts a selection process for safety categories as provided in other national and international standards and industry guides. Further guidance on equipment qualification is provided by other CSA and IEC standards.

1 Scope

1.1
This Standard contains requirements for the qualification of pre-developed software intended for use in safety-related instrumentation and control (I&C) applications in nuclear power plants.
Notes:
(1) Pre-developed products include embedded and stand-alone software.
(2) The requirements of this Standard may also be considered for application to complex programmed electronics that retain state information.

1.2
Software with minor customizations is considered pre-developed software. Software with more substantial customizations is considered custom software and is not within the scope of this Standard.

1.3
This Standard addresses application-specific qualification.

1.4
This Standard does not provide requirements for
(a) environmental tolerance (e.g., temperature, vibration, shock, seismic activity, radiation, humidity,
corrosion, stress and loading, dust, pressure, and fire resistance);
(b) electromagnetic immunity or emissions (e.g., electromagnetic interference, radio frequency
interference, and surge withstand capabilities); or
(c) hardware and system reliability.

1.5
This Standard does not address the process of integration of a candidate product into a system design or
the subsequent validation of the realized system design prior to installation and use in the intended
safety-related application.

1.6
This Standard assumes that the candidate product has been previously assessed as functionally suitable for
the proposed application.