Tihange 1 training simulator officially launched

22 September 2016

A ceremony was held yesterday to inaugurate the new full-scope operator training simulator at unit 1 of the Tihange nuclear power plant in Belgium. The simulator was supplied by Canada-based L-3 MAPPS.

Tihange 1 simulator inauguration - 460 (L-3 MAPPS)
The ribbon is cut by, from left to right, Guy Pironet, Naim Shita and Philippe Lemaire of Engie Electrabel (Image: L-3 MAPPS)

L-3 MAPPS was awarded a contract in December 2013 by Electrabel, itself a subsidiary of France's Engie, to supply a facility for Tihange 1 equipped with full replica control room panels, employing its graphical simulation tools for the plant models and instructor station.

The new simulator - housed in the expanded training centre located at the Tihange plant - was declared ready for training on 4 March this year.

An official inauguration ceremony was held yesterday and attended by numerous Electrabel and Engie representatives, as well as a delegation from L-3 MAPPS.

L-3 MAPPS vice president of marketing and sales, Michael Chatlani, said the project is "a fine example of excellent large-scale simulator project management and execution in which the stakeholders all worked in an open environment to address challenges head-on and keep the project advancing while never compromising quality."

Simulators are a vital piece of equipment for training plant operators, both at the start of their careers and for their continuing training.

Tihange 1 is a 962 MWe pressurized water reactor (PWR) that began operating in 1975 and is scheduled to close in 2025. The site hosts two larger PWRs which started up in the early 1980s and are both also due to shut by 2025.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News