The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has installed the world’s first Tritium Fuel Cycle virtual control room at its Culham Campus. This extends the UKAEA’s extensive use of digital platforms for training, research and development purposes to tritium fuel cycle technologies which will be key to delivering sustainable fusion energy in the future.
The virtual simulator, developed in conjunction with Bilfinger UK, will provide operators of the UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility with the opportunity to undergo simulated training exercises in a safe and controlled environment. It will also allow UKAEA to simulate potential changes to H3AT’s operating parameters and possible knock-on effects, increasing optimisation and efficiencies.
The virtual control room makes it possible to demonstrate H3AT’s capabilities to visiting stakeholders and could be made available in the future for third parties to test their own fuel cycle management systems.
“The UKAEA-Eni H3AT Tritium Loop Facility will be the largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle in the world,” said Stephen Wheeler, Executive Director for Fusion Technology and Tritium Fuel Cycle, at UKAEA. “It also represents a significant advance in the enhancement of industry capability within the fusion sector. By creating this digital control room with the support of Bilfinger, we’re increasing technical capability and supporting industry to deliver the mechanisms that will serve fusion in the future. The development will provide an unprecedented opportunity to train the next generation of fusion engineers through cutting-edge virtual simulation technology.”
Darren Clement, Vice President EAP, Bilfinger Engineering and Maintenance UK, said the virtual control room will give UKAEA the ability to further improve its processes while also ensuring staff are able to learn the important skills needed to help make sure operations run smoothly and safely. “At the same time, it can also help give important stakeholders a valuable insight into the ground-breaking work taking place in Culham. We’ve supported the nuclear industry for 60 years, supporting pioneers and major operators as they safely deliver clean energy in abundance.”
UKAEA has a proven track record in using digital platforms to increase efficiencies of time and cost during staff training and the development of new technologies and processes. The Remote Operations team at the Joint European Torus (JET) has been using such platforms for over 25 years, and they will now support JET’s decommissioning of the fusion machine.
UKAEA projects also include the MAST Upgrade (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) experiment. It also plans to build the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) at West Burton in Nottinghamshire, scheduled to start operating by 2040.
Read more: Tritium takes centre stage
