Sizewell B Power Station - Masterlord Installation of audio visual equipment for new reactor simulator at Leiston
With a net electrical output of 1188 MW, Sizewell B is the UK’s only large pressurised water reactor (PWR) and is capable of supplying around 2 million households – roughly the equivalent of the daily domestic needs of Suffolk and Norfolk. The station supplies 3% of the UK’s entire electricity needs and currently employs over 500 full time staff...
Objective
As an existing customer, Carillion have undertaken a number of installations at British Energy power stations in the UK and when they approached us about the need for a new training facility at Sizewell B, we were able to offer an innovative solution to meet their needs. At Sizewell a system was required to create simulated working environments and emergencies under the close scrutiny of the Training Team. The customer also wanted to be able to record and playback the recorded video to the staff being trained to provide rich and powerful input to the debriefings, and enabling them to isolate precise areas where changes or improvements in working practise could be made.
The station supplies 3% of the UK’s entire electricity needs and currently employs over 500 full time staff.
Solution
Several training rooms and one large plant area were equipped with 8 Vista Powerdome telemetry controlled cameras. Each camera has a preview monitor in front of the user in a 2 x 4 grid all cameras being controlled by a Crestron touch screen control panel displaying a similar 2 x 4 grid such that when one of the monitors is selected on the touch panel, it will route the output of that camera to the touch panel screen and permit the image to be moved or zoomed.
These high quality cameras have powerful zoom and control features allowing the whole training area to be covered, even to the extent of being able to read forms being filled in by the trainees to ensure that the information is being entered correctly.
In the control room, the Trainer is equipped with a simple yet effective interface. A Vista Joystick controller gives accurate control over all the individual cameras whilst the Crestron touch panel allows selection of cameras and microphones to be routed to the recording device. Full and comprehensive controls on the DVD recorder allow the user to save video to hard disk or to DVD and all recorded video can be either played back locally or taken next door to the debriefing room for a highly effective feedback session.
British Energy are currently planning to expand this facility to include additional areas and increased functionality
