L-3 MAPPS announced today that it has won a contract from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to upgrade the Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) Operator Training Simulator (OTS). Work is underway now, with project completion expected by the fourth quarter of 2013.

"We are very pleased to have been selected for the Diablo Canyon DCPP simulator project," said Michael Chatlani, vice president of L-3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation. "Our robust Orchid® simulation solution is well-matched to PG&E’s highly detail-oriented approach, and we look forward to developing our relationship with PG&E on this important project."

The Diablo Canyon OTS upgrade project involves rehosting the legacy simulation models to modern simulation servers based on PC / Windows technology with L-3’s Orchid Simulator Executive to manage the models. It also involves the following work:

  • Replacing the original instructor station with Orchid Instructor Station
  • Replacing the reactor core neutronics model with L-3’s high-fidelity reactor core model, which is generated and validated with Orchid Core Builder
  • Replacing the reactor coolant system thermal-hydraulic model with L-3’s ANTHEM™ model, which is developed and tested in Orchid Modeling Environment
  • Replacing the legacy chemical and volume control system (CVCS) models with updated CVCS models developed with Orchid Modeling Environment
  • Replacing the existing input/output system, which allows the simulation servers to communicate with the simulator main control room panel instruments, with a commercial-off-the-shelf I/O system that will be driven by Orchid Input Output

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in northern and central California. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant is a nuclear power plant owned and operated by PG&E.

Its two Westinghouse 4-loop pressurized water reactor units together produce 2,300 net megawatts of greenhouse gas-free electricity, about 10% of all electricity generated in California and enough to meet the needs of over three million homes in central and northern California. The DCPP site is located approximately nine miles north-west of Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County, California.