Nuclear power has staked its claim as one of the most adopted clean energy sources used across the world. The widespread adoption of nuclear power is due to its ability to serve as an adequate energy source for both domestic and large scale industrial uses, unlike other competing clean energy options. In the United States, nuclear energy currently accounts for 60% of all clean energy sources but despite its popularity, its use comes with its safety fears and challenges.
Unlike other clean energy sources, the public fear the fallout of something going wrong with nuclear energy operations and the rehashing of the Chernobyl incident by HBO highlights were the public’s interest still lies. 1986 is long gone and today the nuclear energy industry is strictly regulated and the focus within the industry is on ensuring safety by upgrading existing nuclear systems and digital transformation technologies can help.
Before delving into how digital transformation can help, let’s describe how the traditional nuclear facility is/was run. In the late 80s and 90s, large panels as high as your average home ceiling with hundreds of buttons served as the control panel outlining the KPIs of a facility. These buttons were attached to switches, alarms, valve indicators, and multiple control components to keep track of daily performances. To keep the facility running optimally, tens of highly trained scientists walked around recording data from these panels for further analysis.
Panel operators worked alongside engineering staff that were tasked with translating whatever warning signals were beamed onto the panel. The operators, engineers, and data analyst then had to work together with outdated systems to analyze captured data and determine the remediation activity to be executed. The analog process was cumbersome and responding to incidents in real-time was difficult regardless of the numerous fail-safes integrated into the system. The early digital transformation of the nuclear industry came with the use of tablets and other smart devices to capture data in real-time. The move from analog to digital process eased the data collection process and simplified the work of operators.
Today, simply going from analog data collection processes to using digital tools does not cut it. Cutting-edge digital transformation tools now exist with the ability to support the upgrade of nuclear energy facilities, simplify operational processes, and ensure safer service delivery.
Evaluating Plant Upgrades before Implementation
The nuclear industry is going through a phase of replacing legacy equipment with modern options and understanding the impact of replacing individual assets on the facility’s operations is crucial. Digital transformation technologies such as simulation modeling software provide an excellent tool for creating realistic 3D models of a nuclear facility while integrating its complexities, constraints, and historical data.
Simulation modeling of nuclear energy systems has been used for a while but these simulation models were based on empirical models thus relying heavily on experimental data. With advances in digital transformation technologies such as IoT, smart devices, and sensors, the accurate data needed to create models that mirror the actual operating conditions of a nuclear facility are available. Integrating captured data into intelligent object-based simulation software create an accurate virtual environment for evaluating the effects of nuclear facility upgrades and answering what-if questions in terms of operations.
Simulation models of nuclear facilities and operational cycles also provide insight into the daily operations of specific assets. The insight gained from simulation models can be used to develop predictive maintenance strategies and optimized operator schedules to ensure stakeholders make better decisions regarding its operations.
Improving Safety within Nuclear Facilities
Digital transformation technologies provide the tools required to control operational processes at different stages of a facility’s working cycle and the ability to shut down specific operations is important to ensuring safety. A recent study of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear incident and the mitigation process employed stated that although shutting down the entire facility reduced accidents, it came at a cost. The complete shutdown ensured Japan lost approximately a third of its energy source for an extended period and service fees increased considerably for consumers.
The integration of simulation modeling as an evaluation tool provides a powerful platform that can assist Outage Control Centers with evaluating outage management protocols and strategies. Accurate 3D simulation models provide both response centers and workers with a viable tool for collaboration when responding to unplanned incidents.
Nuclear facilities can leverage simulation models to create incident scenarios and evaluate staggered responses that are more viable options compared to shutting down an entire nuclear energy generating facility. The integration of smart devices also provides a means to activate fail-safes remotely. Remote control of specific facility operations means facility operators stay safe when dealing with hazardous scenarios.
Remotely Monitoring and Analyzing Facility Operations in Real-time
The ability to remotely monitor and control nuclear energy facility operations is a game-changer that can revolutionize how nuclear facilities are run. The digital twin, a digital transformation technology, creates an exact virtual representation of a nuclear facility. The digital twin created is a cyber-physical system or environment that enables the transfer of data from the physical facility to the digital model in near-real-time. The interexchange of data is made possible through the integration of IoT and edge computing solutions within a nuclear facility.
The digital twin can serve as a real-time monitoring tool, evaluation platform, and data analytics solution for evaluating the entire operations of a nuclear facility. Thus, nuclear facilities can be remotely monitored; decisions made, and acted upon using industrial automation solutions.
Conclusion
The process of building or upgrading nuclear energy facilities are also littered with multiple bottlenecks. The example of Britain’s 20 billion pounds Hinkley facility and its struggles to stay within budget and specified delivery timelines highlight the need for extensive evaluations before implementing upgrades. Digital transformation technologies provide extensive solutions to evaluate capacity planning requirements, optimize resource use, and ultimately lower the energy cost consumers pay.