After four months of intensive acceptance testing at CORYS, TNPJVC signed the Factory Acceptance Test in early December. This milestone comes ten years after the first commissioning of the full-scale nuclear simulator at the Taishan EPR power plant in China.
Since then, the reliability and robustness of the technology supplied by CORYS, which has been available for training more than 99% of the time, has ensured user satisfaction and helped to launch the commissioning of the world’s first EPR.
The simulator was updated to include systems for which data was not initially available and to include the latest version of the control system implemented on site. The simulator was also calibrated using data recorded from the operating plant.
An impressive scope of tests
In order to test all these modifications, the scope of the acceptance test was particularly broad: 375 separate tests, carried out over extended periods of time, from 6 a.m. to 10.45 p.m. These tests mobilised the CORYS and customer teams for a total of more than 34,000 minutes. Confirming the exceptional quality of the work carried out, the majority of the tests were validated with no reserves.
Convincing and promising results
The simulations carried out were compared with the actual data collected on the nuclear unit. The results of this comparison were extremely satisfactory for all the transients studied (load variations, islanding, load rejection, turbine shutdown, reactor shutdown, partial shutdown, automatic/manual switching, unit start-up and shutdown). These results confirm the robustness and representativity of our models and reinforce our confidence and that of our customers as to the reliability of our ALICES® technology and its thermal-hydraulic code DRAC.
This validation confirms CORYS’ expertise in nuclear simulation and our ability to meet complex challenges, on time, and to the full satisfaction of our customers.
