Nuclear

GSE Systems delivers training simulators for Southern Nuclear plants

The three replica simulators are for the Alvin W. Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, Georgia; the Edwin I. Hatch plant in Baxley, Georgia; and the Joseph M. Farley plant near Dothan, Alabama.

Southern Co.’s nuclear energy unit has taken delivery of new simulators for its also new operations training centers at three power plants.

Maryland-based GSE Systems Inc. delivered and commissioned the three full-scope simulators for Southern Nuclear. The project is the largest single nuclear simulator effort in the U.S. in recent decades, according to Southern.

The three replica simulators are for the Alvin W. Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, Georgia; the Edwin I. Hatch plant in Baxley, Georgia; and the Joseph M. Farley plant near Dothan, Alabama.

“We are proud of our longstanding relationship with Southern Nuclear,” Kyle Loudermilk, President and CEP of GSE, said in a statement. “It was an exciting project that called upon our capabilities in hardware and software engineering and design, along with manufacturing logistics and complex project management. We could not have succeeded without a close working relationship with the Southern Nuclear team, for which we are very grateful.”

The simulators will also offer more availability to each plant’s engineering and maintenance staff, who will use them for virtually commissioning plant changes, validating plant procedures, management certification and a variety of other training activities. In addition, the simulators have been upgraded with some of GSE’s latest technology, including the new OpenSim 7.0 simulator operating system and enhanced containment modeling program and GSE’s PSA-HD program to train operators on beyond design basis events.

Altogether, Vogtle, Farley and Hatch generate more than 6,000 MW at capacity and employs close to 2,700 people.

Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Company, operates a total of six units for Alabama Power and Georgia Power.

 

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