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First phase of Mochovce simulator rehost accomplished
April 2012
Mochovce I/O racks before and after the replacement

The successfully finished first stage of the Mochovce 1 & 2 training simulator full rehost consisted in the replacement of the entire I/O system with CORYS CAN I/O modules.

CORYS CAN I/O is an innovative product based on the CAN (for Controller Area Network) I/O standard widely used worldwide. New modules are decentralized and they connect via Ethernet, moving away from old-fashioned chassis-mounted I/O systems.

Main advantages include higher reliability, simpler installation & configuration and easier expansion.

Thunder España engineer Antonio Sierra joined the Corys team temporarily displaced to Slovakia to carry out the replacement during the last weeks of April.


New glass panel simulator projects
February 2012

Even before the completion of the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) of the first glass panel simulator contracted by Entergy Nuclear for Waterford 3, the electrical operator has asked for the simulation of another of its facilities: Arkansas Nuclear One.

The two-unit plant, located in Russellville (Arkansas, USA), has the peculiarity of having different PWR designs (Unit 1 is Babcock & Wilcox, while Unit 2 is Combustion Engineering), so are the two control rooms.

Likewise, the scope of the glass panel simulator includes the panels of both units as well as the capability of switching between the Unit 1 and Unit 2 loads. Moreover, these loads will be exactly the same than the ones already running in the training simulators, as both were re-hosted to T-REX environment in 2011.

Due to the increasing role of Thunder España in this new field of activity, the company sent one of its engineers to Corys Thunder headquarters to share the experience using the latest ThunderEdit development tools and get specific training on project implementation.
 

    
Antonio Sierra, from Thunder España, testing Monticello glass panel (enlarge) Monticello training simulator
(Photo: Ben Franske, Wikimedia Commons)

GE 3D Monicore emulation contract
January 2012
Typical 3D Monicore display (enlarge)

Thunder España Simulación has been awarded a contract to supply and integrate in the training simulator of Columbia Generating Station (Washington, U.S.) an emulated version of the 3D Monicore system by General Electric.

Apart from the user interface, the project includes the development of a limited-scope 3D Monicore model, which is going to provide valid approximations of thermal limits and other core parameters thanks to the quality of the THOR-based primary system model currently running in the simulator.

Thunder España Simulación engineers have previous experience in the emulation of the two most common core monitoring systems, Framatome PowerPlex and GE 3D Monicore, for other BWR plants in the U.S.


ICCMS emulation delivered to Kewaunee
January 2012
Main screen of emulated ICCMS (enlarge)

Kewaunee Power Station (Wisconsin, U.S.) has just integrated in its simulator a fully-emulated version of the Inadequate Core Cooling Monitor System (ICCMS) in replacement of the previous stimulated solution.

The project is framed under the so-called "Node Box Obsolescence Mitigation Plan" by Invensys, which is intended to reallocate the real system host computers from the full-scope training simulator to the plant control room for spare purpose, as the original equipment is no longer manufacturated by Westinghouse.

Thunder España Simulación carried out the R&D required to enhance graphic editor ThunderEdit to support all the ICCMS interactive features on touch screen monitors. In this case, ThunderEdit was integrated in the plant's simulator platform OpenSim.