"Armatom": Over the next two years, work on development of a  large-scale simulator for the Armenian NPP will be completed

ArmInfo. Over the coming  two years work on the development of a large-scale simulator for the  Armenian nuclear power plant will be completed. Vahram Petrosyan,  Director General of the Research Institute for the Operation of  Nuclear Power Plants (Armatom), announced this on September 26 at the  press conference in Yerevan.

According to him, work on a large-scale simulator is carried out with  the assistance of the US Department of Energy. Its necessity is  determined by the demand of time and is aimed at improving the  professional skills of the employees of the Armenian NPP. Vahram  Petrosyan emphasized that if such simulators were used at the  Chernobyl nuclear power plant, tragedy would have been avoided, since  the experiment would have been conducted not on the reactor itself,  but on a training device.

The professor also announced the launch of the fourth-generation  repair simulator systems, the main purpose of which will be the  training and retraining of the repair and maintenance personnel of  the ANPP, information support during the operation and repair of  plant equipment, increasing the technical knowledge of personnel and  improving working conditions.

Vahram Petrosyan also said that Uzbekistan and Bangladesh, where new  nuclear power units would be built, are interested in Armenian safety  systems at nuclear plants. American dealer companies supplying  equipment to nuclear power plants have also expressed interest in the  Institute's offers. According to the professor, the Institute has  developed sensors that detect the slightest fluctuations in steam  generators. "We produced 74 of these sensors for the Armenian nuclear  power plant. Thanks to this, in 2018, an accident was recorded on one  of the steam generators in which the engine oil leak occured," added  Vahram Petrosyan.

The Armatom Institute was established in 1973 before the  commissioning of the first unit of the ANPP (1976). The Institute  conducts studies of the technical condition of nuclear power plants  and develops new devices for its safety. In particular, in 1989 the  Institute developed one of the first simulators in the USSR for the  personnel of nuclear power plants, which was installed at the  Novovoronezh NPP. The Institute also developed and implemented the  fourth generation industrial antiseismic protection system.