Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2015 NuclearPlantJournal.com
23
Virtual
Training and
Operations
Environments
By Mark Nesselrode, General Dynamics
Information Technology.
Mark Nesselrode
Mark Nesselrode is the Principal Subject
Matter Expert (SME) of Modeling
& Simulation at General Dynamics
Information
Technology. Dr.
Nesselrode is a
retired Surface
Nuclear Warfare
Officer, with
multiple tours in
Nuclear Power
(including Chief
Engineer, USS
ENTERPRISE)
as well as
command at sea
twice. His team
is constructing
operational virtual
environments
for operator
training, outage
management, and health physics use. He
is a graduate of the US Naval Academy,
US Naval Postgraduate School, and Old
Dominion University.
Responses to questions by Newal
Agnihotri, Editor of Nuclear Plant
Journal.
1.
How does General Dynamics
systems’simulation products and services
help collaboration of people, data, and
solutions during construction and during
nuclear outage in the nuclear power
industry?
The General Dynamics Virtual
Environment (VE) tool allows nuclear
power plant operators to assess and
validate maintenance procedures. It
helps them plan more effectively, and
if necessary, implement real-time
procedural changes to address newly
discovered conditions.
VE offers a more heuristic and natu-
rally collaborative approach to address-
ing a range of issues facing the nuclear
power industry. Whether they need to
visualize a contain-
ment building or an
operating section
of the plant, such
as the turbine deck,
VE gives a three-
dimensional view
of the environment,
with photo accu-
racy. The addition
of
applications,
such as real-time
radiation dose cal-
culation, combined
with sensory (aural
effects, haptic (tac-
tile) feedback and
olfactory (smell))
effects, creates a
completely immersive simulation envi-
ronment for the plant operator. These ca-
pabilities can be combined with interfac-
es to sources, such as Primavera, so that a
schedule or a procedure can be visualized
in real time. Combining these procedural
steps with VE enables operators to assess
the validity of performance in accordance
with current industry practice standards.
For example, by portraying outage sched-
ules, operators can see laydown areas,
schedule conflicts or even unsafe practic-
es. During construction and outages, the
VE can identify potential clearance issues
and lighting problems, or support col-
laboration between planning and mainte-
nance teams, which is currently unavail-
able. Teams can consider all aspects of
the outage, safety, sequencing, laydown
areas, cumulative or location-specific
radiation doses, and even hazardous en-
vironments where there may be exposure
to chemical, temperature, and airborne
contaminants.
By enabling greater collaboration,
the VE allows for potential cost, time and
personnel savings, which are currently
not possible. The VE also provides an
opportunity to transfer knowledge from
seasoned operators to those who are less
experienced.
2.
Has there been any effort by General
Dynamics in combining the simulation
technology with the robotic technology
to accomplish different maintenance
challenges in the nuclear power plants?
With applications like the real-time
radiation dose calculation, it would be
easy to integrate robotics in an evolution.
For example, robotics may be utilized to
assess the physical condition and levels
of radiation in the containment building
in preparation for an unscheduled outage,
especially if there was a need to survey for
a suspected radiation hazard. Robotics
can also assist in validating the as found
condition of the containment building
to validate or update any previously
recorded data. The survey data could
then be entered into the existing database
to facilitate more effective planning. A
robot also could be used, with appropriate
visual feedback, to conduct maintenance
functions, such as valve repositioning.
3.
How is General Dynamics supporting
the utilities and the vendors to meet the
post Fukushima requirements worldwide?
The VE approach offers the most
realistic and affordable approach to
training operators at most nuclear-
generating facilities. Since the site-
specific
equipment
is
universal,
movement, connection, normal and
casualty operations can be rehearsed and
would meet each site’s requirements.
The ability to use 3D CAD data for
the equipment at each site eliminates the
need to operate the onsite equipment
(other than routine maintenance) or
for operators to travel to one of the two
distribution sites. Another advantage of
the VE is the ability to train the response
teams for an event like Fukushima.
Although the specific training
requirements are not yet promulgated,
one site felt quarterly training necessary
in order to establish proficiency. The
issue then became to quantify the number
of training sessions required, which is
