Project no. U2.01/95: Simulator Training

At the TACIS planning meeting, the parties identified the need for training of operators in Ukraine. Two completely different groups of people were trained on the CAG full-scope simulator: experienced shift staff from the Rovno nuclear power station and final year students from the Sevastopol Navy Institute. This institute was preparing students dedicated to work in Ukrainian nuclear power stations for some time. The students' course therefore had to be designed as a course for beginners.

Conversely, following an initial course financed by the German Ministry of the Environment, the shift teams took the third refresher course on the full-scope simulator. The course content and objectives were seen as continuation of the earlier courses and therefore they were quite advanced.
The focus of the beginner course was on the familiarisation with the simulator and training mainly in normal operating situations and typical faults, complemented by seminars on various aspects of nuclear safety and the operation of nuclear power stations.

The objectives of the third refresher course for shift staff were as follows:

• Refining the knowledge of the combined effects of systems
• Improving system operating skills
• Training in the rapid detection of parameter changes and the requisite tracing of deviations in the allocated systems
• Observing operating rules
• Optimising shift teamwork in the unit control room.

A specific TACIS project was defined including design, development and implementation of a simulator training course for NPP shift crews who were directly in charge of operating the Ukrainian plants. The project was supervised by the Regulatory Body, due to the implications in the field of personnel licensing and re-training.

The project objectives were the following:

• Deepening of control room staff's knowledge about the technological performance of the nuclear systems and their interconnections, training of practical operating actions under normal and abnormal conditions by the provision of simulator training at the Greifswald Training Centre
• Practical and theoretical basic training for students of the 6th academic year from the Sevastopol Navy Institute who will start their professional career at various Ukrainian NPP, focus on technological processes and on demonstrations of (and training about) the behaviour of systems and components during normal and abnormal operating modes

The Planned output was the following:

• Provision of courses for control room staff of Rovno NPP on the simulator at the Greifswald Training Centre (six courses, each one lasted two weeks and trained seven people
• Provision of a course for personnel from the Sevastopol Navy Institute based on the simulator at the Greifswald Training Centre (the course lasted three weeks and trained two instructors plus ten students)

Control room operator course

The share of the training lessons for each of the courses for control room staff is listed below:

• 66 hours: Simulator lessons at the full scope simulator
• 8 hours: Excursion to Greifswald Power Station
• 2 hours: Other

The simulator training time was divided into 58 hours of training in normal operating situations (including design basis accidents) and 8 hours of training on accidents not covered by the design.
Training for the following situations and subjects was carried out in practical exercises on the simulator:

On primary circuit systems:

• capillary tube leak in the steam generator
• leak in the ventilation of special water treatment plant
• leak in the independent cooling circuit of the reactor coolant pump
• leak in the seal water radiator of a reactor coolant pump
• closure of all main isolating valves
• fault in the cooling water supply to the intermediate cooling circuit of the RCP
• opening of the pressuriser safety valve until boiling takes place in the reactor
• leak in the seal of the steam generator collector
• leak in the pressuriser relief tank
• leak in the main reactor expansion joint
• major isolable leak in a loop
• switching off the fourth main reactor pump following failure of three RCP's by closing the emergency stop valve of the oil system following an electrical fault;
• non-actuation of major incident signal 1.

On secondary circuit systems:

• leak in the live steam collector
• steam leak in the live steam system, actuating all the emergency stop valves
• steam leak in the live steam system with safety features jammed, .
• shutdown of a turbogenerator if an emergency stop valve falls, with failure of the control assembly
• jamming of two emergency stop valves of a turbogenerator
• failure of a turbogenerator cooling water pump
• air leak in a condenser leak in the condensate system
• failure of the auxiliary feed water pump without automatic standby start
• deionate leaks in the stator cooler of a turbogenerator
• closed KOC valves
• fault in the low-pressure preheater of a turbo-generator
• leak in feedwater vessel due to open drainage
• feedwater leak after the high-pressure preheater with jammed feedwater controller of a steam generator
• defective feedwater supply to a steam generator due to the failure of several feedwater pumps
• failure of the condensate cleaning filter and partial opening of the bypass.

On electrical systems:

• Failure of 6 kV distribution systems
• Failure of 0.4 kV distribution systems
• Failure of DC distribution systems
• Failure of 6 kV unit distribution system BV 1 with incorrect reaction by the reactor output limiter.

In normal operating situations:

• Rovno procedure for starting up: "Unit starting"
• Transition to isolated operation due to grid frequency fluctuations.

During the simulator training, great emphasis was also placed upon the introduction and organisation of a specific operating discipline, i.e. a clear command language and the specifications of the relevant actions was asked from the trainees.
On the last day of the course the trainees were confronted by the requirement to react appropriately to a simulated fault. The German and Ukrainian trainers jointly assessed the actions of each trainee.
The shift teams from the Rovno nuclear power station showed a competent sequence of actions in various operating situations during the third refresher course in this project. They generally reacted correctly to the problems posed in cases in which individual faults could be detected and their effect on the process minimised.
The courses trained 36 people who were working in different jobs in plant operation. The following table shows function and corresponding number of people:

• Reactor operator 6 people in total
• Turbine operator 6 people
• Shift supervisor primary circuit 7 people
• Shift supervisor secondary circuit 6 people
• Shift supervisor of the unit 6 people
• Shift supervisor of the site 5 people
• Instructors from the training department of Rovno NPP attended the trainees (3 instructors, but multiple stays).

Course to Sevastopol students

The training course took place in the period 17.03. - 06.04.96. The objectives of the simulator course for students at the Sevastopol Navy Institute were as follows:

• Familiarisation with the systems and components in WER-440 units
• Knowledge of unit operation and duties of unit supervisory staff
• Comparison of teaching at the institute with simulator conditions and actual plants and application of this knowledge in practical exercises
• Extending and enhancing knowledge of unit nuclear safety
• Gaining familiarity with the operation and administration of a modern western nuclear power station, including the respective applicable legislation.

The share of the training lessons (and leisure time activities) for the students is listed below:

• 76 hours: Simulator lessons at the full scope simulator
• 20 hours: Seminars
• 16 hours: Excursion to Brokdorf NPP
• 4 hours: Other
• 8 -plus 8 hours: Weekend trip

Simulator training
 

The students were trained on the simulator itself for a total of 76 hours. This time was divided into 70 hours of training in normal operating situations (including design basis accidents) and 6 hours of training on accidents not covered by the design.

Seminars

The theoretical part of the course was conducted as seminars or, prior to simulator sessions, in seminar form. As this course was not intended to be a mere continuation of lessons, but to introduce realistic nuclear power station technology and its use, it was only possible to advance the learning process in a restricted way by technical and other discussions. However, the students showed their appreciation of the importance of the subjects selected by their extraordinary commitment.
Seminars were held on the following subjects:

• German legislation on atomic energy, safety philosophy in western nuclear power stations, using the example of Brokdorf nuclear power station, and nuclear safety in nuclear power stations
• Fire protection in nuclear power stations
• Physical processes involved in the generation of nuclear power; systems and plants in VVER power stations; reactor structure, fuel rods and the control assembly; accidents not covered by the design.

Excursion to Brokdorf NPP

The excursion to the Brokdorf NPP (1,300 MW Pressurised Water Reactor) was realized on 24 and 25 March 1996. It gave the trainees an impression of modern safety principles, operational procedures and set-up of a Western nuclear power plant. A discussion with the Brokdorf operational shift personnel improved the understanding of the operational issues on western NPPs.

Comments

(Quality of the results, Lesson learned, Recommendations for follow-up)
The project met the objectives stated in the TORs and provided invaluable support to safe plant operation.

The trainees have gained wide practical experience from their duties, in some cases over many years. They have a good level of theoretical knowledge and are in a position to implement it when they have to solve the problems set. The personnel requirements for optimum simulator training were guaranteed by Rovno nuclear power station.

The students from the Navy Institute were young people with a good theoretical education, but, of course, little practical experience. Several weeks of practical training in Ukrainian nuclear power stations was planned for them after the simulator training course, within the scope of their studies. The training course at GAG could therefore only be organised as a basic course to give technical knowledge and as an introduction to the practical "handling" of the systems. The students had their first opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired during their studies in various practical exercises.

However, a longer period of simulator training than the three weeks offered would be advisable. At the time of the project implementation, operating staff for Ukrainian nuclear power stations were also trained at the Kiev and Odessa Polytechnics, so the demand for training was enormous. However, as no modern training technology was available (the so-called multifunctional simulators was not available before the second half of 1997), full scope simulator training at GAG formed an important constituent of the student training.

Further Information

The Project Final report is available at the JRC-IE archive.

Further information on the project results could be sought from the beneficiary organizations.