INTERNET REACTOR LABORATORY: A NUCLEAR REACTOR PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION MODALITY FOR THE 21^st CENTURY

Nuclear Reactor Program, Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA

ayman.hawari@ncsu.edu

Published online: 22 February 2021

Abstract

The “second generation” Internet Reactor Laboratory (IRL) has been installed and is currently functional at the PULSTAR reactor of the Nuclear Reactor Program (NRP) at North Carolina State University (NCSU). The NRP has offered IRL based reactor physics experiments and training to external academic institutions and organizations since 2004. In 2016, the United States and the Republic of Vietnam entered into an Administrative Arrangement under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act, with a goal of enhancing nuclear training and education for Vietnamese engineering students. Funding was provided by the DOE to upgrade the PULSTAR IRL infrastructure to state-of-the-art remote data acquisition and video teleconferencing capabilities supporting content sharing across multiple remote user platforms. Subsequently, a Cisco Telepresence and LabView reactor data acquisition system were installed and commissioned at the PULSTAR facility. Using this “second generation” system, and during IRL sessions, up to 100 remote students may interact with the control room staff via the Telepresence system using their mobile device or PC, and view 130 channels of live reactor telemetry via the remote client LabView application while recording the data for subsequent review and analysis. LabView graphical user interfaces (GUI) are provided for each IRL module, and incorporate embedded supporting documents such as schematics and diagrams that aid in illustrating associated technical details and concepts. Consequently, the educational experience offered to remote students and trainees is enhanced and assured to be of the same quality as offered to onsite students/trainees at NCSU.