Tests of the analytical simulator (AT – Analiticheskovo Trenazhera) for the BREST-OD-300 reactor have been completed at the All-Russian Research Institute for the Operation of Nuclear Power Plants (VNIIAES – Vserossiiskii Nauchno Issledovatelskii Institut po Expluatatsii Atomnikh Elektrostantsii), part of Rosatom’s Electrical Energy Division, where it has been under development since December 2022.
AT is a hardware and software complex that includes a simulation complex, instructor workstations and a simulator of the unit control panel, where each panel is displayed on one interactive touchscreen monitor. The simulator is designed to train the operational staff of the unit control room.
The BREST-OD-300 lead-cooled fast reactor, being built at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SKhK – Sibirskovo Khimicheskovo Kombinata) in Seversk, Tomsk region, is part of the pilot demonstration power complex (ODEK – Opitno Demonstratsionovo Energo-Kompleksa), under the Breakthrough (Proryv) project intended to demonstrate closed fuel cycle technology.
The chief designer of the reactor plant is the NA Dollezhal Scientific Research & Design Institute of Power Engineering (NIKIET -Nauchno-Issledovatelskii i Konstruktorskii Institut EnergoTekhniki), NIKIET is the parent organisation for automated control systems for the BREST-OD-300 power unit. Algorithms developed and debugged at NIKIET and Proryv JSC formed the basis of the simulator.
“During the development of the analytical simulator, the tasks of integrating both models of technological systems of the control facility and models of standard algorithms developed by NIKIET as part of the work directly on the project were successfully solved,” said Viktor Chernakov, Head of the VNIIAES Department of modelling tools for technical support of NPP operation. “VNIIAES has successfully completed this task. The BREST project is a completely new technological facility with a specific reactor plant design and lead coolant, which our department had never encountered before. Therefore, during the development of the AT, we had to solve a large number of new tasks, but we managed it.”
Also taking part in the project was the developer of a new generation of codes used to analyse the safety of the BREST reactor plant, the Institute for Problems of Safe Development of Nuclear Energy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBRAE RAS – Institut Problem Bezopasnovo Razvitiya Atomnoi Energetiki – Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk). These codes were successfully adapted for design solutions at Proryv JSC, which ensured the involvement of IBRAE RAS in the development of a full-scale model of the primary circuit of the power unit.
The comprehensive tests of the AT lasted a week. They were attended by representatives of the customer, SKhK, and the technological integrator, JSC Proryv. VNIIAES specialists, together with their subcontractors IBRAE RAS and NIKIET, prepared the simulator for delivery.
“Based on the results of complex tests, the expert team confirmed the compliance of the AT with the current source data for modelling the BREST-OD-300 power unit,” said Egor Klevtsov, Head of the ODEK Training & Information Centre at SKhk. The upcoming commissioning of the NPP at the SKhK site will launch the practical training of operational personnel of this power unit.”
The simulator will now be packed and sent to the customer, where it must be installed, debugged and put into operation by the end of August, adding to the fleet of training facilities at the ODEK Training & Information Centre.
VNIIAES is also developing a full-scale simulator of the BREST-OD-300 power unit, which is scheduled to be fully tested at the VNIIAES site in December.
