A 60 percent increase in order backlogs to $75 million for nuclear power plant simulations and training systems company GSE Systems has bumped share values 4 percent, contributing to a month-long shares value bump of 23 percent, according to a stock market news Web site.
GSE said Friday that it had been awarded a contract to design, engineer and deliver three full scope simulator systems “to an existing client, a major nuclear power plant operator based in the southern United States.”
GSE said it would deliver a second reference plant simulator to each of three nuclear plant sites over the next 18 to 24 months. Work on the systems will “commence immediately,” the company said in a statement.
Critically, the simulation systems will contribute to each plant's ability to train a fresh crew of technicians,” according to GSE.
In addition to producing the replicated hardware, GSE said it would be adding additional capacities to each simulator, including an Electric Power Research Institute's Modular Accident Analysis Program (MAAP5) to the simulators, which have been used to assess the likelihood of core damage and radiological transport in the event of a severe accident.
The MAAP5 code allows for training scenarios associated with the connection of external power and water sources, “as part of the diverse and flexible (FLEX) response strategy developed by the nuclear industry to address challenges such as those experienced at Fukushima Daiichi generating station in Japan."
The simulators in their most dramatic scenarios provide training for accidents that include incidents of reactor degradation that result in fuel melting, cladding oxidation and hydrogen generation, vessel failure, containment failure and fission product release.
The simulator’s instructor station will include GSE’s new multi-media interface, which allows instructors to provide more valuable feedback to trainees on their performance. The new interface will be used to record inputs from multiple fixed and trainable digital cameras and microphones deployed overhead in the simulator main control room. The audio and video recordings are synchronized with the simulator events, and support run or freeze, snap, and backtrack commands. This enhanced capability will make debriefing sessions much more informative and will aid instructors in the evaluation of scenarios and trainee actions. All of these enhancements will serve to make the time spent in the simulator much more productive.