The world’s first tritium fuel cycle virtual control room has been installed at UKAEA’s Culham campus to train technicians in the handling and management of tritium.
This cements the UK Atomic Energy Agency’s reputation as a world leader in the use of digital platforms for training, research and development, which extends to tritium fuel cycle technology, which is critical to delivering sustainable fusion energy in the future.
UKAEA’s new unique virtual simulator, developed in conjunction with Bilfinger UK, allows operators of the UKAEA-Eni H3AT tritium loop facility to conduct simulated training in a safe and controlled environment.
Stephen Wheeler, UKAEA Executive Director, Fusion Technology and Tritium Fuel Cycle, said: “The UKAEA-Eni H3AT tritium loop facility will be the largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle in the world.”
“This also represents a major step forward in increasing industrial capabilities in the fusion field.
“By building this digital control room with Bilfinger’s support, we are supporting the industry in increasing its technological capabilities and providing mechanisms that will help future fusion.”
Digital technology is key to fusion engineering training
The digital system will also enable UKAEA to simulate potential changes to H3AT’s operating parameters and their possible ramifications, improving process optimization and efficiency.
Additionally, in addition to demonstrating H3AT’s capabilities to visiting parties, the virtual control room may be available in the future to third parties to test their own tritium fuel cycle management systems.
“This development provides an unprecedented opportunity to train the next generation of fusion engineers through cutting-edge virtual simulation technology,” Wheeler explained.
“The use of digital technology for operator training is routine across multiple departments at UKAEA, so we are very pleased to be able to adopt the same principles within the UKAEA-Eni H3AT tritium loop facility.”
Tritium fuel cycle training helps the world discover clean and limitless energy
Tritium fuel cycle training at Culham has the potential to dramatically change the world’s future energy mix, delivering safe, clean and virtually limitless energy potential.
Darren Clement, EAP Vice President at Bilfinger Engineering and Maintenance UK, commented: “This virtual control room will allow UKAEA to further improve its processes, while ensuring that staff learn the critical skills they need to run their operations smoothly and safely.”
“At the same time, it will help give key stakeholders valuable insight into the ground-breaking work being done at Culham.”
Bilfinger UK has experience delivering major projects across multiple sectors. In addition to providing control systems, Bilfinger UK facilitated and coordinated subcontracting processes for Schneider Electric, AVEVA, Siemens and others as a Tier 1 contractor.
Mr. Clement added, “We have supported the nuclear industry for 60 years, helping pioneers and major operators provide a safe and abundant supply of clean energy.”
UKAEA’s proven track record in leveraging digital technology
The H3AT tritium loop facility is not the first time UKAEA has used digital technology to speed up efficiency, training and delivery.
UKAEA has a proven track record of using digital platforms to improve time and cost efficiency in training staff and developing new technology and processes.
The Joint European Taurus (JET) remote operations team has been using such platforms for over 25 years and will now be applied to support the decommissioning of fusion vehicles.
Additionally, a fully digital rehearsal of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant fuel debris retrieval was carried out using the Next Generation Digital Mockup (NG-DMU), developed under the LongOps project in collaboration with the Decommissioning Authority, the UK Research and Innovation Agency and Tokyo Electric Power Company.
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