The electric power plant including a steam generator and a steam turbine is operated by a control system including two redundant digital computers. Switching circuitry is provided for coupling one of the computers through interface equipment to the steam generator and the turbine and a generator according to programmed computer control. A data link is established between the computers to transfer manual/automatic status and other needed data from the control computer to the standby computer. A system is provided for detecting when certain hardware and software malfunctions have occurred and for responsively transferring control to the standby computer. The standby computer is tracked to the control computer so that control computer transfer can be made reliably without disturbing the electric power generation process.