The All Russian Scientific & Research Institute for Nuclear Power Plant Operation (JSC VNIIAES – part of nuclear utility Rosenergoatom) is shipping a special simulator to the Akkuyu NPP in Türkiye after completing comprehensive tests. The electrical equipment simulator of the NKU-RU 0.4 kV electric workshop systems is intended for the practical training in technical maintenance and repair of electrical equipment.
“The special feature of this simulator is that it was created ousing real cells of the electrical equipment of the power unit,” noted Alexander Molev the principal expert at VNIIAES. “All control circuits – operating current chains – operate according to the standard scheme in the power unit. The difference is that in the power circuits of the cell simulators, the voltage safe for personnel – 48 volts – while the equipment works in real time and the trainees are protected against electric shocks.”
All signals are displayed on the instructor’s computer, which, in turn, can give various commands, enter fault data, control and record the actions of students. Four people work in one shift at the electrical shop. The simulator makes it possible to analyse all potential mistakes by personnel allowing them to practise their actions until they become automatic in conditions that are as close as possible to real ones, without danger to people and equipment.
“Currently, work is underway on the second stage of the simulator project,” said Andrei Druzhayev Deputy Director of VNIIAES-NTP, Director of the Department of Mathematical Modelling & Engineering. Cells of 10 kV will be added to existing equipment, which will significantly expand the training opportunities for electric workshop personnel. Russian NPPs are now interested in such simulators, since this will increase operational safety.”
The electrical equipment simulator is debugged, disassembled, carefully packaged and sent by sea to the Akkuyu NPP, where it will be installed in a training centre. Earlier, VNIIAES delivered full-scale and analytical simulators to this station, as well as equipment for several classrooms for training control room personnel.
Akkuyu, Türkiye’s first NPP, will eventually host four Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors. The pouring of first concrete for unit 1 took place in April 2018, for unit 2 in June 2020, for unit 3 in March 2021, and for unit 4 in July 2022. Completion of unit 1 is expected in the third quarter of 2023. Rosatom is constructing the reactors according to a build-own-operate model.
