L-3 MAPPS has won a second simulator order for China’s Hongyanhe nuclear power plant from Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co Ltd (LHNPC), the plant owner and operator. The second simulator is for operator training for Hongyanhe plant’s third and fourth units. Preparatory work on the simulator will start immediately, and it is expected to be in service in spring 2011.

“Our high-performance simulators at Daya Bay and Ling Ao in Guangdong provide tremendous value, operating six shifts per day with an availability of 99.8%,” said Michael Chatlani, vice president of marketing and sales for L-3 MAPPS Power Systems and Simulation. “With this project, we are pleased to have another opportunity to contribute to China’s successful nuclear power development programme.”

L-3 MAPPS, as the leader of a consortium with China Techenergy Co Ltd (CTEC), is providing the process simulation and virtual back-up panels while CTEC supplies the non-safety digital control system (DCS), emergency control room panels and the staging facility in Beijing where the simulator will be integrated and tested prior to delivery to LHNPC.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) will provide the simulator’s safety DCS. As units three and four are twins of the first two units under construction at the Hongyanhe site, the plant process simulation will be based on the models for the Hongyanhe full scope simulator for units one and two, which are already under development by L-3 MAPPS.

The Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant site, located in Donggang Town of Wafangdian, 104km north of Dalian City in Liaoning Province, will have four generating units, each featuring China’s standard CPR1000 design – a 1,080MW three-loop pressurised water reactor (PWR), whose design is being coordinated by China Nuclear Power Engineering Co Ltd (CNPEC).

The Hongyanhe project is the first to be built in north-east China as part of the country’s plans to rejuvenate its old industrial base. Unit one commenced construction on 18 August 2007, and all four units are scheduled to enter operation between 2012 and 2014.

China Techenergy Co, a joint venture between China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co (CGNPC) and Beijing HollySys Co, specialises in engineering design and the application of DCSs for nuclear power plants, and safety DCS research and development. It has been contracted to supply several DCSs for nuclear utilities, including four units in Dalian and two in Ningde, China.

Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co is a joint venture among CGNPC, China Power Investment Corporation (CPIC) and Dalian Construction Investment Group. CGNPC is responsible for the project construction and the operation of the plant for the first five years after commercial operation with full-scale participation of CPIC. CNPEC is responsible for construction.

L-3 MAPPS, a division of the L-3 Marine and Power Systems group, has more than 25 years of experience in pioneering technological advances in the marine automation field and more than 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.