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General Kenneth Nichols and the Manhattan Project
Nichols
The Oak Ridger has published the latest in a series of articles about General Kenneth D. Nichols, the Manhattan Project, and the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The series has been produced by Nichols’ grandniece Barbara Rogers Scollin and Oak Ridge (Tenn.) city historian David Ray Smith. Gen. Nichols (1907–2000) was the district engineer for the Manhattan Engineer District during the Manhattan Project.
As Smith and Scollin explain, Nichols “had supervision of the research and development connected with, and the design, construction, and operation of, all plants required to produce plutonium-239 and uranium-235, including the construction of the towns of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Richland, Washington. The responsibility of his position was massive as he oversaw a workforce of both military and civilian personnel of approximately 125,000; his Oak Ridge office became the center of the wartime atomic energy’s activities.”
Sung Kon Kang, Kyung Min Kim, Ki Hwan Kim, Yeon Sub Jung (KHNP)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 158-165
We had first developed APR1400 simulator with the form of emulation to perform HFE V&V of the MMIS in the construction phase of Saewool 1&2 nuclear power plant. And then APR1400 simulator was developed gradually reflecting design change and transformed into the APR1400 training simulator, and finally contributed to the acquisition of the operating license. But if MMIS related problem or MMIS design change happens in the digitalized MMIS in the plant operation phase, we need to perform MMIS V&V including control logic and MMI function through the most similar testbed. But plant MMIS cannot be fully tested with the limited condition of the emulated simulator. We have come up with new method to perform operator training and MMIS V&V simultaneously. Accordingly, we adopted virtual Distributed Control System (DCS) to implement plant MMIS in the APR1400 training simulator. This virtual DCS has the same control logic and MMI function as plant is provided. Three types for simulator operation will be provided. First mode is hybrid mode which is implemented with the form of emulated MMI and real plant control logic implemented with virtual DCS for operators’ training as well as control logic V&V. Second mode is emulation mode which is implemented with the form of emulated MMI and control logic. Final mode is stimulation mode which is fully implemented with the form of real plant MMIS including control logic and MMI function. This approach provides opportunity that complex control logic such as NSSS Process Control System can be validated before real control logics are applied in plant MMIS and improves coping capability of operator due to operator’s training in the same environment as plant. Application of this method can reduce plant transient state and unexpected plant event through the resolution of MMIS fault in advance.