Mochovce simulator
The project to complete Mochovce 3 and 4 in Slovakia will include a full-scope simulator supplied by GSE Systems. Unusually, GSE will also purchase hardware on behalf of the customer, Slovenské Electrárne.
The project to complete Mochovce 3 and 4 in Slovakia will include a full-scope simulator supplied by GSE Systems.
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| The Mochovce plant (Image: SE) |
Mochovce 3 and 4 are VVER-440 pressurized water reactors whose construction was stalled in 1992. A new project to complete them was officially launched in November last year by Slovenské Electrárne (SE), to be funded by its majority owner, Enel of Italy. The reactors could operate by 2012-3 to provide 880 MWe - 22% of national supply and enough to allow exports.
The detailed design of the reactors will be unique, having been refined and improved in order to gain permission for the project from the European Commission. The Russian-design reactors will have thicker concrete containments and will be operated using control systems from an Areva-Siemens consortium.
Operators for the units will be trained using a full-scope simulator, which GSE Systems announced it would supply at a cost of $18 million to SE. Two thirds of the price will go towards hardware purchases, including a digital control system from Siemens, which GSE will make on behalf of SE.
GSE said in a statement that the experience it will gain with Areva-Siemens control systems would "serve the company well in the future." Work on the simulator will begin immediately and should be complete before October 2012.
