AP1000 Training Centre Opened in Madrid
The Westinghouse has opened a full-scale simulator of a control room at a new AP1000 Training Academy in Madrid, Spain. Despite Spain’s current nuclear phase-out policy, Westinghouse chose Madrid because of its logistics convenient for the experts from the United States and Central and Eastern Europe.
The full-scale control room simulator allows training of future control room operators in an environment exactly matching the real AP1000 unit control room. The training program covers all plant procedures from startup to shutdown, as well as simulating malfunctions or component failures. It also allows certification of the operators and system development and testing.
According to Luca Oriani, Head of Westinghouse`s Division for Development of Advanced Reactors, nuclear operator training typically starts around five years before a nuclear power plant commissioning. This is not only due to training duration but also due to the necessity to develop a large pool of highly qualified staff to ensure 24/7 operation of NPP during the whole year.
While each future unit will eventually have its own replica control room, the new facility in Madrid is intended to serve as a long-term European training hub.
Once new AP1000 units are built, each will have its own control room simulator, but the plan is for the Spanish training center to continue to be the Europe-wide center for training for future plants.
Based on World Nuclear News data