Montreal — L-3 MAPPS has received an order from Eskom Holdings for a second full-scope training simulator. Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station, with AREVA-designed pressurised water reactors, will add a second simulator for developing new operations personnel and for continued training for existing operations personnel. The second simulator will be housed in a new training building, currently under development.
L-3 MAPPS, with subcontractor Mechtronix Systems, will develop main control room panels (MCR) that are a replica of the existing Koeberg simulator MCR panels. The new simulator will be equipped with the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM 750 using a fieldbus-independent design that features finely modular components. The I/O system is optimised for process-oriented communication and is a scalable-performance solution for high integration density.
“In addition to supplying us robust technology, we have continued to receive reliable service from L-3 MAPPS despite the long distance between South Africa and Canada,” said Willem van der Sandt, project manager, Eskom Generation. “We are optimistic that the L-3 team will again deliver a great simulator to Eskom.”
“L-3 MAPPS is pleased to collaborate again with Eskom to enhance the nuclear plant training infrastructure in South Africa,” said Michael Chatlani, vice-president of marketing and sales for L-3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation. “With this project, the L-3 MAPPS team will pursue — and achieve — yet another high-quality technical solution for our esteemed customer.”
The simulator-duplication project will be rolled out in two phases, during which the current simulation will be migrated to a full L-3 MAPPS simulation environment. The first phase will consist of developing the second full-scope simulator MCR and I/O system, while the second phase (retrofit phase) will see the existing training simulator upgraded to more closely resemble the new simulator.
In the retrofit phase, the existing simulator’s I/O system will also be replaced by the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM 750, while certain key panel instruments, including the control rod position indicators and the synchroscope, will be replaced by more modern equipment. These upgrades will enable Eskom to use a single software configuration on both training platforms, simplifying the configuration management task.
This project follows another order awarded to L-3 MAPPS by Eskom to significantly refurbish the existing Koeberg operator training simulator. Featuring L-3 MAPPS’ Orchid® modelling environment, the upgrade will provide improved fidelity and performance of the simulator. The refurbished simulator is slated to be operational in March 2010 followed by a subsequent upgrade, with the entire simulator operating L-3 MAPPS high-fidelity models by December 2010. The software platform and upgraded models will then also be applied to the second simulator.