Nuclear Power Plant Training Simulators

If you’re in the business of training complex system operators you’re well aware of the challenges involved. From making sure that your staff is fluent with the controls, to gauging their level of competency, to guaranteeing year-round training opportunities; virtual training simulators provide you with all of these benefits. And if your operators are charged with mission-critical tasks these benefits become a necessity, rather than a nicety. When it comes to mission-critical tasks, nuclear power plant operation is at the top of the list. And how do you train your nuclear power plant operators? With training simulators of course. The African continent may only have one nuclear power plant, the Koeberg nuclear power station in South Africa, but they already have two state-of-the-art training simulators. The simulators replicate the station’s main control room as well as the emergency control facility.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant Training Simulator

Earlier this year the same company that delivered the simulator to Koeberg, L-3 MAPPS, produced a training simulator for the Embalse nuclear power plant in Argentina. The Embalse simulator runs on a standard Windows operating system platform and simulates all of the plants operational systems, including the reactor, steam supply and electrical systems.

In China, at the Sanmen and Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant, the Westinghouse Electric Company recently installed their AP1000 nuclear power plant training simulators, considered the most modern nuclear power plant operator training simulators in the world. Utilizing the real-world plant instrumentation and controls, the simulator delivers a high degree of realism, allowing plant operators to be prepared to take their operator license examination within 18 months of the start of their training.

Whether you’re training operators to run a nuclear power plant, a natural gas power plant, or any other complicated system or piece of machinery – virtual training simulators allow for the highest degree of fidelity, without incurring any of the costs, risks and potential hazards associated with real-world training. Obviously nuclear power plants are at the high end of the spectrum when it comes to the risks associated with training, but regardless of your equipment, if you’re training new employees or keeping seasoned operators’ skills sharp, training simulators allow you to conduct training year-round, under a variety of simulated conditions and without taking real-world equipment out of production.