Nuclear upgrades aided by virtual control room
13 Aug 2013
Extending the life of ageing nuclear power plants and upgrading their control rooms can be improved by checking designs and technology in a virtual system, according to US government-backed research.
The US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Human System Simulation Laboratory (HSSL) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is a virtual system capable of testing the safety and reliability of proposed technology replacements prior to their implementation in nuclear control rooms.
INL’s control-room simulator is a hybrid facility that mimics both the digital and analogue systems that typically support physical controls such as valves, gauges, keyboards and touch screens.
A HSSL simulator is designed to facilitate the digital renovation of existing plants, which predominantly use analogue control systems.
The HSSL provides the ability to rapidly develop prototype control-room modifications
EPRI project manager & technical executive Joseph Naser
Experts have also discovered that the simulator can help improve control room design by studying human interactions with instruments and responses to alarms.
Manager of the DoE’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) programme in the Office of Nuclear Energy Richard Reister said: “The goal is to provide industry with a capability to understand and test how proposed changes to existing instrumentation and control systems will affect their plants.”
The HSSL is capable of evaluating operator performance and any possible safety risks before a new control room interface has been installed in an active plant.
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) project manager and technical executive Joseph Naser said: “The HSSL provides the ability to rapidly develop prototype control-room modifications, get early feedback from control-room operators, and test new designs with realistic plant scenarios before the designs are built.”
The HSSL team is currently working on prototype digital displays that convey chemical balance, turbine control and plant information that is not captured on the current panels. Its objective is to introduce information that can help human controllers maintain their situational awareness, particularly during emergencies.
