A cutting-edge nuclear facility control room simulator has been unveiled at Lancaster University.
The simulator will offer a ‘high-fidelity’ deeply immersive learning experience for students across subjects such as nuclear engineering and cyber security.
The pioneering simulator, the first of its kind in the UK due to its highly reconfigurable nature and ability to simulate a variety of reactor designs, will support the nation’s clean energy goals and help enhance the country’s future nuclear safety.
Funded through a £2 million grant from the Office for Students, the ‘Lancaster University Nuclear Operations Simulator’ will support teaching across a range of disciplines targeted to address nationally critical skills gaps.
Addressing the urgent need for advanced workforce training in the nuclear sector, including cyber security professionals, the creation of this cutting-edge facility is aligned to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy and National Nuclear Strategic Plans for skills by supporting teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate Lancaster University programmes.
The simulator includes a huge wrap-around screen across three sides of the new facility, which, along with software similar to that found across a range of nuclear reactors, provides a deeply immersive experience for students.
It includes a highly reconfigurable design and software for different reactor types including Pressurised Water Reactors (PWRs), Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), and tokamak fusion reactors, with software codes developed by GSE Solutions, Westinghouse, Norway's Institute for Energy Technology, and Tokamak Energy.
It also includes leading-edge Audio-Visual equipment that can be used to flexibly configure different scenarios and record student interactions in the simulation environment to support student feedback. It has also been designed so that furniture can be reconfigured to represent different control room layouts.
Professor Rebecca Lingwood, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Lancaster University, said: “As a leading university ranked among the best in the UK, and with gold standard teaching, Lancaster University is deeply committed to providing world-class innovative teaching experiences for our students.
“This fabulous new facility will augment Lancaster’s long-established strength across disciplines such as nuclear engineering and cyber security, providing our students with a truly excellent learning experience.
“Lancaster University plays a vital role as an economic anchor institution in north-west England and this facility will further enable us in helping to deliver a new generation of young people equipped with the skills needed to support a low-carbon energy sector vital for national energy security, as well as a critical sector for the region’s economy.”
Lancaster University has world-leading expertise in cyber security. Recognised for its cross-disciplinary excellence, Lancaster was one of the first UK universities accredited by the National Cyber Security Centre as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research and Education.
Lancaster University currently hosts the only single honours Nuclear Engineering undergraduate programme in the UK. Further, Lancaster University has one of the UK’s strongest nuclear science and technology research communities with expertise across the fission and fusion fuel cycles, nuclear medicine, nuclear security and safeguards.
The facility will also draw on Lancaster University’s Psychology Department’s world-leading expertise in security and safety behaviour in high-risk settings, and on group decision making under uncertain or emergency conditions.
The simulator will be an invaluable teaching tool to enable students to put into practice some of the theory from their undergraduate, master’s and doctorate courses.
Professor Paul Smith, Chair in Networking and Principal Investigator of the initiative, said: “This high-fidelity simulator will enable us to create simulations of scenarios where nuclear facilities are cyber attacked, providing valuable in-depth learning experiences for our cyber security students, some of which may become future cyber security professionals protecting our critical national infrastructure.”
Dr Samuel Murphy, Director of Studies for Nuclear Engineering at Lancaster University, said: “This exciting and deeply immersive new facility will greatly enhance the experience and learning opportunities for students on our Nuclear Engineering programmes, helping to maintain Lancaster’s position as a leading provider of nuclear education in the UK.”
The facility will be ready for teaching students at Lancaster University from the next academic year starting in the autumn.
The £2 million grant for the facility formed part of an £88.5 million capital investment by the Office for Students (OfS) announced last autumn for projects at 60 universities and colleges.
Located on Lancaster University’s campus, the simulator sits alongside the University’s Data Immersion Suite, also previously funded by the OfS.
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