Contracts for St Lucie simulator upgrade
28 August 2013
L3-MAPPS will upgrade the full-scope simulator at the St Lucie nuclear power plant in Florida under multiple contracts. It will also supply a new classroom simulator.
.jpg "St Lucie 1 and 2 (FPL)") |
| St Lucie's two reactors (Image: FPL) |
Under the contracts from Florida Power & Light (FPL) - the values of which were not disclosed - L-3 MAPPS will rehost St Lucie's simulation software using its Orchid simulation environment.
The Canadian company will also replace old analog controllers with new digital ones. In order for the simulator to accurately replicate the plant's response and train plant operators on the new equipment, the controllers will be simulated with L-3 MAPPS' software.
In addition, L-3 MAPPS will replace the simulator's current Linux input/output (I/O) gateway computer with a Windows I/O computer, interfacing the simulation server with the original I/O system delivered with the simulator in the mid-1980s.
Also, using touch-screen technology from its Orchid Touch Interface solution, L-3 MAPPS will supply a classroom simulator to provide an accurate representation of the control room environment by emulating the plant's physical hard panels. The classroom simulator will comprise three Orchid Touch Interface bays.
Work on all four projects is underway and the updated simulator is expected to enter service by the end of the year.
The two-unit St Lucie plant comprises two pressurized water reactors, which began operating in 1976 and 1983 respectively. An extended power uprate was completed at St Lucie 1 and 2 last year which raised the power output from each of the reactors from some 853 MWe to 1002 MWe.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News