Emergency preparedness alert notification system for nuclear power plants

A remote siren equipment test system for being communicatively coupled with a respective one rotating siren in a multiplicity of rotating sirens distributed over diverse wide geographic regions in a nuclear power plant emergency preparedness alert notification system, and the remote siren equipment test system for being communicatively coupled with a remotely located central siren control system (CSCS) that is remotely located from each of the rotating sirens, the remote siren equipment test system comprising:

• a processor;
• memory;
• a network interface device communicatively coupled with at least one network for communicating messages between the remote siren equipment test system and the CSCS;
• and
• at least one sensor for being operatively coupled with at least one component of a rotating siren that is communicatively coupled with the remote siren equipment test system, for automatically monitoring an operational parameter of the at least one component and outputting sensor data representative of values of the operational parameter;
• and
• the processor, communicatively coupled with the memory, the network interface device, and the at least one sensor, in response to executing computer instructions, performing operations comprising:
• sending an actuation signal to the at least one component of the respective one rotating siren, based on receiving from the CSCS via the at least one network a start siren test command;
• monitoring, output sensor data from the at least one sensor, the output sensor data indicating an operational status of the at least one component;
• analyzing the output sensor data;
• determining that the operational status is one of affirmatively operational or negatively operational to cause the at least one component to operate according to design, construction, and installation, of the at least one component in the rotating siren that is communicatively coupled with the remote siren equipment test system, based on the analyzing of the output sensor data;
• storing in the memory a rotating siren status message, and adding selective address information to the rotating siren status message making it destined for reception by the CSCS in response to being transmitted in the at least one network;
• adding in the rotating siren status message an indication of operational status of the at least one component, being one of affirmatively operational or negatively operational, based on the determining;
• and
• transmitting, with the network interface device, the rotating siren status message in the at least one network destined for reception by the CSCS, the rotating siren status message including the indication of operational status of the at least one component.

A computer-implemented method of automatically monitoring operational status of each rotating siren in a multiplicity of rotating sirens distributed over diverse wide geographic regions and each being remotely-located from, and communicatively coupled with, a central siren control system (CSCS), in a nuclear power plant emergency preparedness alert notification system, at least one rotating siren in the multiplicity of rotating sirens comprises a plurality of components including:

• a rotating motion actuator, mechanically coupled to a directional sound output port, which in response to being actuated by an actuator driver circuit causes the directional sound output port to rotate while emitting an audible emergency signal from the directional sound output port;
• and
• a test set computer processing system (Test Set), comprising:
• a network interface device communicatively coupled with one or more networks to communicate information signals through the one or more networks with the CSCS;
• one or more sensors operatively coupled to the rotating motion actuator;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled with the network interface device and the one or more sensors;
• and
• the computer-implemented method comprising:
• electrically driving the actuator driver circuit thereby actuating the rotating motion actuator to mechanically rotate the directional sound output port;
• monitoring output sensor data from the one or more sensors, the output sensor data indicating rotational motion of the rotating motion actuator;
• analyzing the output sensor data indicating rotational motion of the rotating motion actuator;
• determining, with the processor, that the rotating motion actuator is one of affirmatively operational or negatively operational to cause the directional sound output port to rotate, based on the analyzing of the output sensor data;
• adding in a rotating siren status message an indication of operational status of the rotating motion actuator, being one of affirmatively operational or negatively operational, based on the determining;
• and
• transmitting, with the network interface device, the rotating siren status message in the one or more networks destined for reception by the CSCS, the rotating siren status message including the indication of operational status of the rotating motion actuator.