Simulator-interfaced light water reactor instruction and research. Final technical report

In order to develop a comprehensive program of simulator-interfaced instruction and research, the American Electric Power Corporation and Centerior Energy Corporation are working with the Nuclear Engineering programs at the University of cincinnati and the Ohio State University. The first phase of the program, the development and presentation of a course sequence on commercial nuclear power plant systems design and operation, has been completed. Program instruction began on January 3, 1994 with the first presentation to 29 undergraduate and graduate engineering students at the University of Cincinnati and the Ohio State University. The sequence covered two academic quarters and included visits to each of the nuclear power plants involved in the collaboration. Class lectures were presented in video-classrooms such that instructors at one site could reach not only their own students but students at the other university as well. Class lecture material was developed primarily from similar materials utilized and developed by the utilities to train their own engineers and operators. The initial development effort was described in an earlier progress report. The collaborative effort required to present the course sequence has produced a variety of benefits, some expected and some unexpected. These include: (1) university course material prepared from actual operating plant resources, not merely textbook cases; (2) enhancement of traditional learning setting with significant time spent at the plant simulators; (3) opportunities for students to tour working nuclear power plants; (4) professional enrichment and development for the collaborators through frequent interaction with peers at various plants and universities; (5) initiation of research projects of mutual interest to utilities and universities; (6) enhancement of students` ability to make early contributions in the plant engineering workforce through more complete understanding of plant operations; (7) bringing the OSU and UC faculty to the forefront of the development of new instructional technologies (multi-media, real-time distance learning applications). The initial offering of the course on LWR systems and operations was very successful in providing university students learning opportunities they did not have in other classes. Student evaluations indicated their appreciation for the opportunities to visit the plant sites, perform plant evolutions in the simulators and interact with the utility training personnel. Several students were so positive in their reactions that they recommended making the course sequence a required part of the nuclear power engineering curriculum