We are pleased to announce that our Executive Principal Consultant Robert Stroud and Sam Moody, an I&C Software Assurance Engineer with EDF Nuclear Services will be talking about about their experience with software assurance for nuclear applications at the Safety‑Critical Systems Symposium 2026. Their session titled “Experience using static analysis tools to build confidence in safety-critical software for industrial control systems” will dive into proven techniques for strengthening assurance in industrial control software.
Software components in nuclear control systems play a pivotal role in ensuring reliable, predictable and safe plant operation. However, for systems certified to SIL 2 and above, dangerous failures may occur as infrequently as once every 100 years – making them nearly impossible to detect through traditional testing alone.
Drawing on our work with EDF, the workshop explores the use of Polyspace Bug Finder and Polyspace Code Prover to assess safety‑critical software. Participants will gain insight into:
· Why extremely infrequent software failures matter in SIL‑rated safety‑critical systems, and why traditional testing alone cannot expose them.
· Live demonstration of the tools used on the project.
· Examples of the types of issues uncovered during assessments, and how these findings contribute to building independent confidence in safety‑critical software.
· The process of reviewing, analysing and sentencing tool findings, including how to determine whether an issue is a genuine defect and assess its potential impact on system behaviour.
· The role of static analysis within software assurance and the wider nuclear qualification framework.
· Opportunities for advancing research and tooling, including how more sophisticated analysis techniques could support the detection of rare but high‑consequence software defects.
This workshop is suitable for engineers, assessors, researchers, and anyone involved in the assurance of safety‑critical software.
Workshop details:
Date: 11 February 2026
Location: The Milner York Hotel, York, UK
Time: 14:30
Register for SSS’26 here.
Learn more:
Learn more about the project and the use of Polyspace tools here.