Simulators Installed; First Control Room Operators Trained for Worlds First AP1000 Nuclear Power Plants

Westinghouse Electric Company (USA) recently announced the successful on-time installations of AP1000 full-scope plant reference simulators at China’s Sanmen and Haiyang Nuclear Power Plants.

The company also announced the successful training of the first class of 34 AP1000 reactor operators and senior reactor operators at the Sanmen site. Prospective Sanmen operators have been studying for 18 months in preparation to take operator license examinations with the China National Nuclear Safety Administration in November 2013. They will become the world’s first licensed AP1000 nuclear plant operators. Another 36 Sanmen students are scheduled to complete training in February 2013, and a new class of potential operators will commence simulator training at Haiyang in the spring of 2013.

“We achieved these key delivery and training milestones with the help of our China partners and customers,” said William Poirier, vice president, Westinghouse China AP1000 Projects. “Together, we are proud to have demonstrated this next step in delivering our world-class technology with AP1000 pressurised water reactors.”

The AP1000 simulators are the most modern nuclear plant simulators in the world. The plant’s operations and process control systems are translated and integrated with simulated plant dynamic models on a multiprocessor computer. The actual plant instrumentation and controls are used on the operator workstations to achieve the highest level of fidelity. It is in this replica control room that students are trained to become plant operators, studying directly on the control consoles, control panels and displays of the AP1000 nuclear power plant control room.

Currently, contracts for 10 AP1000 reactors have been placed around the world: four in China and six in the U.S. Nuclear safety construction commenced on four AP1000 units in the U.S. after utilities received combined construction and operating licenses (COL) from the U.S. NRC. In China, construction of the four AP1000 units is progressing with the first AP1000 unit to produce electricity in 2014.