L-3 MAPPS has announced that it has won an upgrade contract from Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Co Ltd (DNMC) to equip the Ling Ao Phase II full scope simulator with a severe accident simulation model to enhance training scenarios that simulate degraded reactor core conditions.
The project, which underscores L-3 MAPPS’s continued commitment to DNMC, will commence immediately and is slated to be in-service at the beginning of 2014.
"Since the Fukushima accident in 2011, we have seen increased demand for severe accident simulation on real-time nuclear plant training simulators," said Michael Chatlani, vice-president of marketing and sales for L-3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation. "This upgrade project is important to L-3 MAPPS as it will allow us to field exciting new simulation products and solutions in the near term and to once again provide DNMC with a successful solution."
L-3 MAPPS will connect the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Modular Accident Analysis Program (MAAP5) to the Ling Ao Phase II simulator. MAAP5 is a software programme that performs severe accident analysis for nuclear power plants, including assessments of core damage and radiological transport.
The simulator will also be equipped with new 2D and 3D animated, interactive visualisations of the reactor vessel, containment building and spent fuel pool to provide operators with additional insight into the behavior of the plant during severe accidents. The 2D graphics will be enabled with L-3’s Orchid® Control System and 3D visuals will be powered by Bridgeworks© from TriLink Systems.
In addition to the normal operations and abnormal, off-normal and emergency event training for which the simulator is currently extensively used, the upgraded Ling Ao Phase II simulator will be used for training scenarios relating to degraded reactor core conditions that result in fuel melting, including cladding oxidation and hydrogen generation, vessel failure, containment failure and fission product release.
The Ling Ao Phase II nuclear plant, owned by Ling Dong Nuclear Power Company, comprises the first two CPR1000 nuclear generating units that were put into commercial operation – the first unit in September 2010 and the second in August 2011. The CPR1000 is a Chinese standard design featuring a 1,080MW three-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR). The Ling Ao Phase II full scope simulator, built by L-3 MAPPS in cooperation with AREVA and Siemens, was put into service in August 2009.