Canada's L-3 Mapps has signed a contract with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to supply a full-scope training simulator for the Wolsong 1 Candu pressurized heavy water reactor in South Korea. Work will start immediately and the simulator is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.

Canada’s L-3 Mapps has signed a contract with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to supply a full-scope training simulator for the Wolsong 1 Candu pressurized heavy water reactor in South Korea. Work will start immediately and the simulator is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.

"All of the plant systems will be simulated, including the reactor, nuclear steam supply systems, balance of plant systems, electrical systems and instrumentation and control systems," L-3 Mapps said.

The Wolsong plant site in North Gyeongsang Province comprises four Canadian Candu reactors. Wolsong-1 entered commercial operation in April 1983, followed by units 2 to 4 between 1997 and 1999. In 2015, South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved a 10-year operating licence extension for the refurbished and uprated Wolsong-1 until November 2022.

The simulator will use L-3’s graphical simulation tools for the plant models and instructor station. The simulator’s models will be developed, validated and maintained in L-3’s Orchid simulation environment. Wolsong 1’s computer systems – the digital control computers (DCCs) – will be represented by a fully emulated dual DCC that will be integrated in the full-scope simulator. The simulator will be equipped with full replica control room panels driven by L-3’s Orchid Input Output software and a new compact input/output system.

L-3 said the new plant models used in the Wolsong 1 simulator will include severe accident simulation capabilities – the first time the company has implemented severe accident simulation for Candu plants. It said the simulator will also be equipped with new two-dimensional and three-dimensional animated, interactive visualizations of the reactor vessel and containment building to provide trainees further insight into the behaviour of the plant during severe accidents. L-3 has also supplied full-scope operator training simulators for Wolsong units 2, 3 and 4.