09.06.2020  COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ROSENERGOATOM

Rosenergoatom introduces e-learning for staff at Russian NPPs

The Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company (as part of the Electric power division of the Rosatom State Corporation) has completed the testing of a virtual simulator prototype designed to train the electrotechnical personnel of the company. The prototype was developed by CROC Immersive Technologies, a department within an IT service provider CROC.
The Leningrad NPP-2 (city of Sosnovy Bor, the Leningrad region) became the pilot site for the introduction of a new training method. The KRU-10 kW electrotechnical equipment utilized at the NPP became a model for the creation of the VR simulator. In 2021, the Company plans to start practicing virtual on-the-job training. This will help to improve the quality of the staff training as well as reduce the time for equipment maintenance and staff onboarding.

‘Right now, when our electrotechnical team undertake training, they have to practice on real equipment as a part of the production process. The labor protection standards at the plant are very strict. Which is why it takes almost a year to train a person under the mentorship of a workshop specialist; prior to that, the trainees are not allowed to work on their own. A virtual simulator that mirrors the operation of real equipment helps us optimize the training process both from the time prospective and the opportunity to practice lots of various scenarios’, Dmitry Gasten, the HR and social policy director at the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company, said.

During the training, the interns will be able to practice different operations of electric equipment following set scenarios, with all possible mistakes being visualized. Following that, they can pass an exam and start working right after receiving an applicable certificate.

According to Dmitry Gasten, the development of a full-scale virtual simulator of equipment is viable. The investments of the Rosenergoatom Joint-Stock Company in building this simulator for ten plants will be five times lower than the development of a physical analogue. Besides, it is easier to scale up a virtual simulator because the production companies’ infrastructure and equipment are constantly changing, and physical simulators become obsolete pretty quickly. A virtual environment, on the contrary, is more flexible and responsive to constant changes.

Sergey Migalin, the deputy CEO and the director of economy and finance at the Roseneragotom Joint-Stock Company, noted: ‘One of the main areas of the company’s digital transformation is the development and trial run of methods that can be up-scaled and adjusted for both the Russian and the international market. We give special attention to digital HR management and development assistants, as the Company will have to train several thousand people to operate new power plants in Russia and all over the world in the next five years. It goes without saying that we can’t do that without cutting-edge technologies'.

Ilya Simonov, the director of CROC Immersive Technologies, said: ‘The solution we have proposed for Rosenergoatom is the best fit for their business needs. CROC team has delivered a proof of concept for a virtual-reality KRU-10 kW simulator. The big advantage of this VR simulator is being able to make any necessary changes quickly as well as to add new scenarios of equipment operation or emergency procedures’.

This year, the team is planning to deliver a functioning full-scale virtual simulator for the Leningrad NPP-2 training center. Following the successful implementation of the project at the pilot site, the management will make a decision on unified virtual simulator functionality that can be adapted to meet the specific needs of each particular Russian NPP.

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