Nuclear Plants and Emergency Virtual Simulations Based on a Low-Cost Engine Reuse

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Using virtual reality in the training of security staff and evaluation of physical protection barriers in nuclear facilities

The physical security of facilities containing radioactive objects, an already important matter, now has a new aggravating factor: the existence of groups intending to obtain radioactive materials for the purpose of intentionally induce radioactive contamination incidents, as for example the explosion of dirty bombs in populated regions, damaging both people and environment. In this context, the physical security of such facilities must be reinforced so to reduce the possibilities of such incidents. This paper presents a adapted game engine used as a virtual reality system, enabling the modeling and simulation of scenarios of nuclear facilities containing radioactive objects. In these scenarios, the physical protection barriers, as fences and walls, are simulated along with vigilance screens. Using a computer network, several users can participate simultaneously in the simulation, being represented by avatars. Users can play the roles of both invaders and security staff. The invaders have as objective to surpass the facility’s physical protection barriers to steal radioactive objects and flee. The security staff have as objective to prevent and stop the theft of radioactive objects from the facility. The system can be used to analysis simulated scenarios and train vigilance/security staff. A test scenario was already developed and used, and the preliminary tests had satisfactory results, as they enabled the evaluation of the physical protection barriers of the virtual facility, and the training of those who participated in the simulations in the functions of a security staff

THE USE OF VIRTUAL REALITY AS AN INFORMATION TOOL ON EXTERNALITIES OF ENERGY SOURCES

Almost daily communication vehicles make some reference to the need to combat the indiscriminated use of fossil fuels and to use less polluting energy sources. In this scenario, nuclear energy should be presented as an option but this is still covered by many myths. Thus, to inform the youth public about the characteristics of the main sources that compose the brazilian energy matrix it is necessary to promote the transfer of knowledge and to demystify the nuclear sector in playful and responsible way

Design of a collaborative virtual environment for training security agents in big events

This paper describes a design of a collaborative virtual environment (CVE) for training security agents in big events. The CVE was modelled with Autodesk 3ds Max, while Unity 3D was used to create the terrain and implement the features that make up a virtual environment. The Brazilian soccer stadium known as Maracana˜ and its surroundings were chosen as the real counterparts of the CVE. The usability of the CVE was evaluated through simulations involving security agents dealing with threats related to suspects carrying radioactive material in big events. In order to perform these simulations, we use the same procedures used during 2014 FIFA World Cup and planned to be used in Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The main objective of this work is to verify the feasibility of designing a CVE and its usability for training security agents involved in big events issues. Results indicated that the proposed CVE has been successful concerning both, design and usability, besides of helping to improve the ability of each member of the security team on performing his duty

GPU-based high performance Monte Carlo simulation in neutron transport

Graphics Processing Units (GPU) are high performance co-processors intended, originally, to improve the use and quality of computer graphics applications. Since researchers and practitioners realized the potential of using GPU for general purpose, their application has been extended to other elds out of computer graphics scope. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the impact of using GPU in neutron transport simulation by Monte Carlo method. To accomplish that, GPU- and CPU-based (single and multicore) approaches were developed and applied to a simple, but time-consuming problem. Comparisons demonstrated that the GPU-based approach is about 15 times faster than a parallel 8-core CPU-based approach also developed in this work

VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNIQUES IN THE AID TO POPULATION AWARENESS AROUND A NUCLEAR WASTE

Nuclear energy has proved to be an extremely important source of energy for today's society. However, these achievements, even present in people's daily lives, often go unnoticed and suffer rejection by the same society that enjoys such contributions. Rejection, mainly due to the lack of information. In this context, this work used Virtual Reality technology to inform and make the population aware of the benefits and disadvantages of nuclear energy. For this purpose, an interactive virtual environment was produced that allowed the exploration of a nuclear waste repository. Subsequently, an educational video was developed to provide end-user information support. Finally, an educational game was also created with the aim of raising public awareness and demystifying the nuclear area by bringing knowledge, in a clear and engaging way, to the population around a nuclear repository. The developed environment allowed the user to walk through the virtual representation of the reject repository, and also enabled the creation of a video capable of transmitting the initial information and improving the spatial comprehension of the model as a whole. In conclusion, the tool developed in the present work has the capacity to assist in the production of nuclear projects before even entering the construction phase. In addition, it is possible to apply this technique to inform the population about the nuclear practices that will be applied, providing a greater involvement of the people and, consequently, a better assimilation of knowledge about nuclear energy

A PSO approach for preventive maintenance scheduling optimization

This work presents a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) approach for preventive maintenance policy optimization, focused in reliability and cost. The probabilistic model for reliability and cost evaluation is developed in such a way that flexible intervals between maintenance are allowed. As PSO is skilled for realcoded continuous spaces, a non-conventional codification has been developed in order to allow PSO to solve scheduling problems (which is discrete) with variable number of maintenance interventions. In order to evaluate the proposed methodology, the High Pressure Injection System (HPIS) of a typical 4-loop PWR has been considered. Results demonstrate ability in finding optimal solutions, for which expert knowledge had to be automatically discovered by PSO

Applying a neuro-fuzzy approach for transient identification in a nuclear power plant

Transient identification in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is often a very hard task and may involve a great amount of human cognition. The early identification of unexpected departures from steady state behavior is an essential step for the operation, control and accident management in NPPs. The bases for the transient identification relay on the evidence that different system faults and anomalies lead to different pattern evolution in the involved process variables. During an abnormal event, the operator must monitor a great amount of information from the instruments that represents a specific type of event. Several systems based on specialist systems, neuralnetworks, and fuzzy logic have been developed for transient identification. In the work, we investigate the possibility of using a Neuro-Fuzzy modeling tool for efficient transient identification, aiming to helping the operator crew to take decisions relative to the procedure to be followed in situations of accidents/transients at NPPs. The proposed system uses artificial neural networks (ANN) as first level transient diagnostic. After the ANN has done the preliminary transient type identification, a fuzzy-logic system analyzes the results emitting reliability degree of it. A preliminary evaluation of the developed system was made at the Human-System Interface Laboratory (LABIHS). The obtained results show that the system can help the operators to take decisions during transients/accidents in the plant

Metodologia para avaliação de interfaces de salas de controle avançadas de plantas industriais utilizando análise da confiabilidade humana

Uma sala de controle avançada de uma planta industrial é um sistema complexo, que controla um determinado processo usado, por exemplo, para produzir energia elétrica ou produção de petróleo. Os operadores interagem com a sala de controle através de interfaces e várias estações de monitoração. Estas interfaces apresentam implicações significativas para a segurança da planta industrial, pois influenciam na atividade dos operadores, afetam o modo como eles recebem informações relacionadas com o status dos principais sistemas e determinam os requisitos necessários para que os operadores entendam e supervisionem os principais parâmetros. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para avaliação de interfaces gráficas de salas de controle avançadas de plantas industriais, utilizando um método de análise de confiabilidade humana de primeira geração, THERP, e o julgamento de especialistas