Nuclear Reactor Simulator Laboratory

The Nuclear Reactor Simulator Laboratory is home to the GSE Solutions GPWR (Generic Pressurized Water Reactor) nuclear reactor simulator. This is a state-of-the-art, full-scope reactor simulator designed to accurately mimic the behavior, operation, and control of a large, commercial, three-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) such as those found at the Dominion Energy North Anna and Surry Nuclear Power Stations in Virginia. The simulator not only enables student understanding of the fundamentals of nuclear power plant operation, but permits students to simulate unanticipated events and nuclear accidents, confident that the behavior they observe is an accurate, real-time representation of the response of a commercial power reactor. Access to the simulator is available to MNE students either as part of a nuclear engineering course or for individual study.

The simulator features a programmable interface allowing it to be used not only for education but for research in such diverse fields at human factors engineering, reactor control room digitalization and design, and cyber security.

Key Equipment

Key Capabilities

• Full-scope, real time, accurate simulation of a Westinghouse design commercial pressurized water reactor.
• Professional reactor simulator that meets industry and regulatory standards.
• Interactive schematic drawings of all plant systems.
• Five workstations provide students with learning in either a self-training mode or under instructor supervision.
• Open-ended graphical-user-interface that allows for the specification, plotting and retention of hundreds of key parameters along with the development of new interface designs.
• Handles the full range of reactor operation: normal, abnormal and transient (accidents).