I&C SUBSIDIARY (OKSAT)

Mikhail N. Mikhailov Director   Contacts: Acronym: GUP OKSAT NIKIET Phone: (499) 263 7407 FAX: (499) 264 4432, (499) 788 2052 (in NIKIET) Teletype: 611569 MOMENT E-mail: mikhail@nikiet.ru

Main Activities Development of reactor control and protection systems Development of operator support systems Development of integrated I&C systems for nuclear and other industrial facilities Development of unique sensors and transducers for use in the challenging environment of nuclear reactors Computer-aided design of I&C systems and components Field and rig testing of I&C systems and components Supply of turnkey I&C systems Engineering support in manufacture, installation and operation of I&C systems and components developed by the Department.

The Department has been building up its expertise over more than 30 years of development, installation and field supervision of systems and components at NPPs, production, research and other nuclear facilities.

All RBMK reactors are equipped with control and protection systems developed by the Department and backfitted or replaced as dictated by their physical condition or by new safety requirements.

For some reactor types, the Department undertakes full-package development of CPS components. Thus, a linear step mechanism complete with electronics was developed and tested for use in research reactors.

High on the Department's list of activities are various reactor sensors, some of which are unique in their characteristics, functional capabilities and operating environment. The Department is working at the leading edge of national and world reactor thermometry. Multielectrode cable thermocouples have been patented outside Russia. Thermometric fuel rods and instrumented fuel assemblies developed by the Department are used at different reactors to measure fuel temperature, coolant flow, fuel assembly power, temperature tilts, inner pressure in fuel rods, fuel rod elongation, neutron flux, etc.

New design approaches have been translated into the next generation of thermoelectric level indicators and digital-analogue level meters which can reliably monitor levels of molten, corrosive or ultrapure fluids at nuclear and fossil-fuel plants, chemical, oil and food industry facilities.

Operator support systems play an important role in NPP control. One example is the information computer system developed with the assistance of the Department experts and installed at Ignalina NPP.

Units 3 and 4 of the Leningrad plant have been equipped recently with a plant computer system performing the upper level function in the centralized monitoring system "SKALA". The plant computer system of each unit includes eight double-screen workstations placed in the Main Control Room and twelve distributed stations in other control rooms. System components were tested for seismic resistance and EMC in the course of design. The system performs 3-D neutronic calculations every 3 s. Each calculation run takes 1 s. (Cf: the cycle of 2-D neutronic calculations in a regular SKALA system is 6 to 12 min.). Operator can call about 50 different videograms on the screen. It takes no more than 2 s to display any videogram.

The system tangibly facilitates the decision-making process in plant control.

Designers and engineers use the latest CAD systems. All developments are validated by computer calculations.