UNENE hosts annual workshop on Nuclear Instrumentation and Control

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Participants of the 14th Annual University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE) Workshop on Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Systems for Nuclear Power Plants at Darlington Energy Complex, Ontario Power Generation (OPG).

Western Engineering News | January 9, 2019

On December 14, 2018, university researchers, industrial experts from the nuclear power industry and representatives from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) gathered at the Darlington Energy Complex in Ontario Power Generation (OPG) for the 14th Annual University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE) Workshop on Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Systems for Nuclear Power Plants. This annual event was organized by Jing Jiang, a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Western University and the NSERC/UNENE Senior Industrial Research Chair (IRC) in Instrumentation and Control.

Representatives from the Canadian and US nuclear industry attended this event. There were over 45 participants in this year’s workshop, making it the largest ever since the inauguration of the workshop in 2005. Opening remarks were delivered by Jerry Hopwood, President of UNENE, where he highlighted UNENE collaborations and explained how this unique organization is working to help improve the nuclear industry by facilitating exchange of ideas between academics and industry experts. Several presentations were made by David Rogalski, Senior Manager, Computers and Control Design for OPG, Miriam Capretz, Associate Dean (Research) for Western Engineering and John Jackson, Research & Innovation Development Officer for NSERC.

Jiang, along with members of his research team, presented on their research progress during the event. Representatives from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), CANDU Owners Group (COG), Doosan HF Controls (HFC) and OPG also shared their knowledge and experience on advanced instrumentation, measurement and control systems, technological and regulatory aspects of small modular reactor (SMR), as well as recent activities on wireless based real-time monitoring systems and cyber-security in nuclear power plants.

One of the highlights in this year’s workshop was a tour to the OPG computer labs where fuel handling computers, SDS computers, DCCs, and programmable logic controllers were developed. The engineers from OPG guided the participants through the labs and explained how these labs help improve safety and operational efficiency of OPG nuclear power plants.

UNENE was founded in 2002 to create a partnership between nuclear industry and several Canadian universities. It is now a well-established and fully functional framework with programs mainly focusing on serving the nuclear industry through education and research. Through the NSERC/UNENE Senior IRC, Jing Jiang has successfully trained over 60 highly qualified personnel over the past 15 years.

Industrial partners of the UNENE include OPG, CNL, CNSC and Bruce Power, while Western University is one of 12 Canadian universities partnered with the UNENE.

For more information about the workshop, please contact Dr. Jing Jiang at jjiang@eng.uwo.ca.