SCS Industry Technology Award Presented at Duke-EPRI Mobile Simulator Dedication Ceremony

Abstract

On The Road To Excellence: Operating excellence is essential if utilities are to successfully meet the challenge of an increasingly competitive future. Operators must have the knowledge and skills to operate plants with perfection. Replica simulators have been used to train nuclear power plant operators for over 15 years. However, high cost and lack of flexibility have limited the use of simulators by the fossil generation industry.

The Duke-EPRI Mobile Simulator represents a breakthrough in cost and flexibility which makes near-replica simulators affordable, compact and mobile. Duke Power Company, the Electric Power Research Institute, TRAX Corporation, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation teamed to produce a trailer-mounted simulator that includes a complete Westinghouse control system "simulated" by a process model developed by TRAX Corporation. The simulator can be loaded with different control systems and process models to provide near-replica training at various plants.

Duke power will use the mobile simulator to provide operator training and controls engineering for all of its fossil plants, yielding estimated benefits of over $175 million during the next 15 years. The benefits will be realized in the areas of reduced operator preventable trips, reduced commissioning time for control system replacements, quicker start ups, and improved maneuvering capability.