Upgraded Krško simulator operational

Thursday, 26 October 2017

Canada-based L3 MAPPS has completed an upgrade of the full scope simulator at the Krško nuclear power plant in Slovenia. The upgrade was carried out as part of a safety upgrade programme to modernise the plant.

The upgraded Krško plant simulator (Image: L3 MAPPS)

As part of the upgrade, the simulator's UNIX operating system-based simulator has been replaced with a virtualized Windows-based platform running L3's Orchid simulation environment. A new compact input/output system has been installed that will be used to drive a new simulated emergency control room, which replaces remote shutdown panels spread throughout the plant. The nuclear island and conventional island models have been migrated into Orchid. The models have also been upgraded to reflect plant changes made as part of NEK's safety upgrade program following the March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant.

L3 MAPPS - which was awarded a contract by Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) in April 2016 - said yesterday the upgraded Krško simulator is now "ready for training".

NEK plant engineering director Božidar Krajnc said, "The simulator upgrade is an important part of our safety upgrade programme. Through close cooperation between the NEK and L3 MAPPS technical teams, we now have a modern, high-performance simulator that will continue to serve our training and engineering support needs."

Simulators are a vital piece of equipment for training plant operators, both at the start of their careers and for their continuing training. The simulator at Krško entered service in March 2000 and is primarily used to train and license the main control room operators.

Construction of the 696 MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactor at Krško – the first western nuclear power plant in eastern Europe – commenced in 1975 and it was connected to the grid in 1981. The plant was built as a joint venture between Slovenia and Croatia, which were both part of Yugoslavia at the time. Croatian state-owned company Hrvatska Elektroprivreda and Slovenian state-owned company Gen-Energija co-own NEK. The reactor is due to shut down in 2043.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News