Virtual reality at nuclear issues: a review study

Recently, several applications using concepts related to virtual reality has been proposed to help on solving issues of great interest in Nuclear Engineering. Among them are power plant's control rooms simulators; measurement of the estimated radiation dose in a nuclear power plant; use of game engines to create virtual environments to support evacuation planning of buildings and circulation in areas subjected to radiation; development of a man - machine interface based on speech recognition; virtual control tables for simulation of nuclear power plants; evacuation plans support; security teams training and evaluation of physical protection barriers; ergonomic evaluation of control rooms, and other ones. Many of these applications are developed at Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), having their results published in form of articles in periodicals and conferences. This article presents a review of some of these studies showing the evolution in the use of these concepts, describing some of its results and showing prospects for future applications that can make use of virtual reality technology

Tratamento das flutuações das taxas de partida para a monitoração da subcriticalidade do núcleo e revisão crítica do conceito de SPDS

A implementação de sistemas computadorizados de auxílio à operação de usinas nucleares teve início após o acidente nuclear da usina americana de Three Mile Island . Naquela oportunidade foi introduzido o conceito de “Safety Parameter Display Sistem” (SPDS), mais especificamente o do seu módulo de Funções Críticas de Segurança. A definição original destes sistemas não era clara e objetiva o suficiente para uma implementação adequada de tais sistemas nas salas de controle das usinas nucleares. Como consequência surgiram surgiram diferentes versões de SDPS que, em sua grande maioria, apresentam sérias deficiências, tornando-os incompatíveis com o objetivo precípuo de aumento de segurança na operação de usinas nucleares. O presente trabalho teve como meta inicial a revisão crítica do conceito de “SAfety Parameter Display Sistem” (SDPS) com base na regulamentação e experiência operacional existentes. E teve como desdobramentos dessa meta inicial a proposta de solução para as flutuações das taxas de partidas usadas na monitoração das funções críticas de segurança, e o estudo de viabilidade da automatização dos procedimentos de recuperação das referidas funções críticas. Em particular, a solução para as flutuações das taxas de partida tornou-se relevante em face a constatação de que todos os SDPS que monitoravam as árvores de estado das funções críticas de segurança apresentavam este problema, devido a composição intrínseca dos canais de detecção dos fluxos de nêutrons em reatores nucleares. Neste trabalho, também é apresentado um resumo das principais inspeções realizadas em SDPS , em operação em várias usinas nucleares americanas

Use of virtual simulator for agent training in radiation protection actions in major events

With the proximity of the events of the Olympic Games, Brazil can become a great place of visibility for running dirty bombs or any other radiation mode proliferation by terrorists. Aware of these problems, the government and the organizations created managements of emergencies to ensure that these events elapse in an orderly and safe manner. The management of emergency situations at an event is a complex problem, which involves dynamic, unforeseen and unintended situations, emphasizing the potential complexity of the contexts in which organizations operate and, as a consequence, the people involved in the execution of multiple tasks from activities that require intense cognitive effort, are often challenged to adapt dynamically to maintain the productivity of the organization at satisfactory levels of performance usually impedes these people reflect on the results of their actions and learn from them. Therefore, it is extremely important to create tools that address the methods and techniques of Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) to assist in the previous training of the security agents, for example, detection and approaches of people who carry radioactive elements. One of the possible ways to accomplish this training is through the use of virtual reality. Virtual environments bring some advantages like reducing costs and risks. The aim of this paper is to present a virtual simulator to evaluate the use in training agents in major events. As a case study, the Maracanã and the agents of the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) was chosen

The use of the virtual reality Helmet Samsung Gear vr as interaction interface of a radioactive waste repository simulator

Radioactive waste is all material resulting from human activity that contains elements that emit radiation that can generate risks to health and the environment. In this sense, they are very toxic also for those who perform the storage of radioactive waste in nuclear facilities. On the other hand, the virtual reality (VR) as been destined to the most diverse purposes, like simulations for educational systems, for military urposes as for diverse training. VRcan be considered as the junction of three basic principles: immersion, interaction and involvement. Bases on these principles of VR, this work aimed to develop a simulator of a repository of nuclear tailings, for mobile computing, whose interaction interface will be through the Samsung Gear VR helmet. The simulator of the nuclear waste repository was developed in the unity 3D tool and the elements that make up the scenario in the 3D MAX program. In this work we tried to put virtual reality under scrutiny in conjunction with Gear VR, to help in the sensation of immersion, as well as, the possibility of interaction with joysticks. The purpose was to provide greater insight into the operating environment

Development of a mobile game based on virtual reality tools to sensitize the population about the nuclear power plant’s emergency plan

The Angra dos Reis Nuclear Power Plant’s emergency plan, it´s the bunch of instructions that every citizen must adopt in case of an emergency situation. It’s highly important, that all the people living in the power plant´s surroundings truly understand every single step of the plan, because only in this way people will know how to react in case of a necessity. To hit this goals, the Brazil`s Electronuclear, made educational booklets, in the shape of comic books, trying to guide the population about the plan. On the other hand, we have an increasingly connected world, making possible that digital games, be very well accepted by the population. So this project has as an objective, developing a digital tool, in form of a mobile game that shows in a playful and interactive way for the user, the emergency plan, complementing the educational process and social actions made by many institutions. With the information taken from the booklets, objects and buildings were modeled in Autodesk 3ds Max, allied with the Unity 3D Game Engine, to make a city, inspired in Angra do Reis (RJ). The player has to follow all the security protocols giving by the Eletronuclear according with the rules provided by the National Nuclear Energy Commission. Is expected, with this game that will be available for the Eletronuclear that more people have the chance to know and believe in the efficiency of the emergency plan already established

Nuclear Plants and Emergency Virtual Simulations based on a Low-cost Engine Reuse

Our industrialised society comprises many industrial processes that are very important for everyone, in a wide range of fields. Activities related to these industrial processes, though, involve, in higher or lower degrees, some risk for personnel,  besides risk for the general public in some cases. Therefore, efficient training programs and simulations are highly required, to improve the processes involved, increasing safety for people. To cite an example, nuclear plants pose high safety requirements in operational and maintenance routines, to keep plants in safe operation conditions and reduce personnel exposure to radiation dose. Besides operational and maintenance in nuclear plants, there are also other situations where efficient training is required, as in evacuation planning from buildings in emergency situations. Also, rescue tasks play similar role. These apply specially for nuclear sites. Another situation that requires efficient training is security, what has special meaning for plants that involve dangerous materials, such as nuclear plants. Nuclear materials must be kept under high security level, to avoid any misuse

The nuclear energy, public opinion and the awareness of work of nuclear institutions

With Brazil facing a prospect of expanding its nuclear-energy sources and the development of new nuclear techniques there is a need for imminent integration in the nuclear industry with the tool information. In this paper we propose the creation of a program aimed at the servers of the institutions that make up the Brazilian Nuclear Sector, with a view to preparing these to become multipliers in the dissemination of activities developed by the institution so that they can, with strong arguments, defending the work of industry criticism of this form of energy. The goal is to create an important process of change of mentality and attitude among people who relate to the servers in the industry, expanding the debate on the subject, so that society, clearly and free of prejudices can understand the benefits the use of nuclear energy

Sequência Didática envolvendo recursos digitais em aulas de Matemática para aprendizagem do Teorema de Pitágoras

Esta pesquisa propôs uma metodologia com o objetivo de promover uma aprendizagem significativa do Teorema de Pitágoras por meio de uma Sequência Didática, englobando recursos digitais, tendo em vista a necessidade de estratégias de ensino deste teorema que possam proporcionar ao aluno a associação dos conceitos vistos em aula com o seu cotidiano. O estudo, de viés qualitativo, constituiu-se de pesquisa exploratória, mediante roda de conversa com docentes de Matemática. A seguir, realizou-se uma busca documental para elencar as habilidades na Base Nacional Comum Curricular e identificar a ferramenta digital mais utilizada pelos alunos segundo a Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílio Contínua. A partir de então, uma Sequência Didática foi elaborada e avaliada por professores, que constataram que a metodologia proposta, permeada por tecnologias digitais, ao abordar de forma lúdica situações de aplicabilidade do Teorema de Pitágoras, relacionadas à acessibilidade, poderá tornar a aprendizagem mais atrativa e significativa

Virtual dosimetry applied to the physical security of a nuclear installation

An important activity to be held in radiation protection is the location of radioactive sources. The present work was devoted to the development of a virtual dosimetry tool for locating and detecting such sources. To this end, was created a three-dimensional virtual model of the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear – IEN, endowed with virtual characters (avatars), capable of move and interact with the environment, radiation detectors (fixed and mobile) and radioactive sources. Aiming to assist in planning physical security of nuclear installations, the tool developed allows the detection simulation of individuals carrying radioactive sources through detectors installed at strategic points of the site. In addition, it is possible to detect and locate sources by handling portable detectors, operated by characters within the virtual environment. The results obtained show the behavior of the radiation detectors on continuous profile of radioactive sources, allowing calculate the dose rate at any position of the virtual environment. Thus, this work can assist in the training of security officers, as well as in evaluating the radiological safety of the nuclear site

Escape route simulator utilizing augmented reality

Due to increasing demand and interest in the interaction of technology platforms and integration of different types of systems and technologies, some tools are already providing practical ways to develop integrated applications. The tools explored by this article are Unity, a platform for game development, and Vuforia, an SDK, software development kit, for augmented reality creation. The coalition proposal of these resources is to create an intuitive escape route that can be used for the evacuation of buildings or open spaces in view of imminent danger, such as radiation leakage, and that can be accessed from a target available at the institution. It has also the intention of simulating situations that involve training of personnel in order to obtain methods that allow to save financial resources, and even to avoid that those who are involved are exposed to risks unnecessarily. The simulator is expected to help design, test, and improve ways to maintain the physical integrity of the facility and provide end users with a better sense of immersion and attractiveness