"For seven years, IRSN has turned to us to meet its demanding simulation needs, and we are proud that our technology and simulation know-how has gained such strong acceptance with a discerning customer."
– By Chris Reed –
L-3 MAPPS announced today that it has been granted a contract extension from the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) to further update its SOFIA (Simulateur d'Observation du Fonctionnement Incidentel et Accidentel) engineering simulator.
"L-3 MAPPS is pleased to continue our business relationship with IRSN," said Michael Chatlani, vice president of marketing & sales for L-3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation. "For seven years, IRSN has turned to us to meet its demanding simulation needs, and we are proud that our technology and simulation know-how has gained such strong acceptance with a discerning customer."
The contract extension requires that L-3 MAPPS migrate the existing simulations for French-designed reactors CP2 (900 MWe, 3-loop), DPY (1,300 MWe, 4-loop) and N4 (1,450 MWe, 4-loop) to new PC servers running Windows within the Orchid® simulation environment. Each of the simulations benefits from being integrated with CATHARE thermal-hydraulic computer engineering code. In addition, two versions of the Flamanville 3-based EPRTM simulation will be added to the SOFIA simulator. One EPR simulation version is based on L-3 MAPPS' real-time ANTHEMTM thermal-hydraulic code, while the other incorporates CATHARE.
IRSN has owned a simulator since 1992. The SOFIA simulator (previously SIPA – simulateur post-accidentel) is used for thermal-hydraulic studies, especially for level 2 probabilistic safety analyses, training in physics and reactor control, and the preparation of national crisis exercise scenarios. Since 2002, IRSN has owned a CP1 (900 MWe, 3-loop) configuration that integrates the CATHARE code and makes the simulation of cold shutdown states possible. In 2003, the IRSN worked with L-3 MAPPS to design a solution that integrated CATHARE in L-3 MAPPS' ROSE® simulation environment, which resulted in a successful prototype.
CATHARE is a thermal-hydraulic computer engineering code for nuclear power plant safety analysis. The software is the result of nearly three decades of cooperation between engineers of the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA), French electricity group EDF, AREVA and the IRSN. The version of the code in use for the simulators is CATHARE 2, version 2.5_1.
L-3 MAPPS, a division of the L-3 Marine & Power Systems group, has over 25 years of experience in pioneering technological advances in the marine automation field and over 35 years of experience in delivering high-fidelity power plant simulation to leading utilities worldwide. In addition, the company has more than three decades of expertise in supplying plant computer systems for Canadian heavy water reactors. L-3 MAPPS also provides targeted controls and simulation solutions to the space sector. To learn more about L-3 MAPPS, please visit the company's website at www.L-3com.com/MAPPS.
Headquartered in New York City, L-3 Communications employs approximately 67,000 people worldwide and is a prime contractor in C3ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) systems, aircraft modernization and maintenance, and government services. L-3 is also a leading provider of a broad range of electronic systems used on military and commercial platforms. The company reported 2009 sales of $15.6 billion. To learn more about L-3, please visit the company's website at www.L-3com.com.