PWR Operator Manual · Open the simulator
Reactor⚛️Dynamics — PWR Operator’s Manual Set
Plant: Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR)
Trainer: Reactor⚛️Dynamics educational plant simulator
Document set: Commercial-style operating manuals for training use
Revision: 24
Date: 2026-10-02
Purpose
This folder contains the operator’s manuals for the PWR unit of Reactor⚛️Dynamics. They are written in the style of commercial nuclear power plant operating manuals: numbered procedures, prerequisites, precautions, step-by-step actions, and acceptance criteria.
They cover:
- How to use the simulator (HMI, plant MODES, missions, tools).
- How to operate the plant (every control, normal evolutions, Mode 1, At Power through Mode 5, Cold Shutdown transitions).
- How to respond to alarms, upsets, and accidents (including Three Mile Island).
Primary operator paths: take the plant Mode 4, Hot Shutdown → Mode 1, At Power and Mode 1, At Power → Mode 5, Cold Shutdown (power operation to cold shutdown). See 05_MODE_TRANSITIONS.md procedures PWR-T20 and PWR-T21.
These manuals are written from the simulator as it is built, and they are the operator's manual for this plant: the in-app Manual shows exactly this text. They are training documents, not licensing basis documents for a real nuclear plant.
Document map
| Chapter | Use when… |
|---|---|
| 01 · Plant general description | Learning what a PWR is and how this plant is modeled |
| 02 · Simulator user guide | Starting the trainer, the board layout, Free Play, Walkthroughs and Lessons |
| 03 · Controls & indications | Operating any individual control or reading any gauge |
| 04 · Normal operating procedures | Startup, power operation, shutdown, system control procedures |
| 05 · Mode transition procedures | Mode 5, Cold Shutdown ↔ Mode 1, At Power; Mode 3, Hot Standby ↔ Mode 1, At Power; load changes |
| 06 · Alarm response procedures | Responding to each annunciator |
| 07 · Abnormal & emergency procedures | Managing every failure you can inject |
| 08 · Accident study — TMI-2 | Studying the 1979 accident |
| 09 · Setpoints & limits | Looking up trips, actuations, alarms, normal values |
| 10 · Glossary | Looking up acronyms and terms |
| 11 · Campaign ↔ manuals map | Matching missions to procedures |
| 12 · Simulation physics & model scope | Asking what the sim actually computes, what it simplifies, and what it does not model at all |
| Revision history | Checking what changed in the manual set |
Conventions used in these manuals
Procedure numbering
| Prefix | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| PWR-N## | Normal operations | PWR-N03 Approach to criticality |
| PWR-T## | Plant MODE transitions | PWR-T03 Mode 3, Hot Standby → Mode 1, At Power; PWR-T20 Mode 4, Hot Shutdown → Mode 1, At Power |
| PWR-C## | Control / system procedure | PWR-C10 Pressurizer pressure control |
| PWR-A## | Alarm response | PWR-A09 LO SUBCOOL |
| PWR-E## | Abnormal / emergency (failure response) | PWR-E01 Loss of main feedwater |
| PWR-X## | Accident case study | PWR-X01 Three Mile Island |
Callouts
| Callout | Meaning |
|---|---|
| WARNING | Action or condition that can lead to core damage, trip, or severe plant upset |
| CAUTION | Action that can damage equipment, trip the unit, or violate a training limit |
| NOTE | Clarifying information; not a required action |
| [sim] | Fully step-followable in this trainer |
| [narr] | Narrative / context only — not step-followable on the board |
Plant MODES (commercial numbering)
Convention: always write Mode N, Name (example: Mode 1, At Power).
| MODE | Full form | Criteria (trainer) | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mode 1, At Power | Critical, power > 5 %, RCS hot | [sim] |
| 2 | Mode 2, Startup | Critical, power ≤ 5 %, RCS hot | [sim] |
| 3 | Mode 3, Hot Standby | Subcritical, RCS hot | [sim] |
| 4 | Mode 4, Hot Shutdown | Subcritical, intermediate T | [sim] |
| 5 | Mode 5, Cold Shutdown | Subcritical, cold | [sim] |
| 6 | Mode 6, Refueling | Head detensioned / refueling | Out of scope |
Do not confuse plant MODES with turbine load modes (Follow / Manual / Disconnected).
Mission ↔ procedure map: 11 · Campaign ↔ manuals map.
Units
These manuals quote US customary units first, with SI in parentheses — 2235 psi (15.41 MPa), 579.2 °F (304 °C). US first because that is what the PWR board reads; SI alongside because that is what the engine computes in, and what every setpoint in the source is written in.
| Quantity | US | SI | Conversion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure | psi — always absolute | MPa | × 145.038, whole psi |
| Temperature | °F | °C | × 9/5 + 32, 1 dp |
| Temperature difference | °F | °C | × 9/5, no offset — 1 dp |
| Condenser vacuum | inHg | kPa | × 0.2953, 1 dp |
| Level, power, flow | % / normalized — no conversion |
Every pressure is absolute. The board and these manuals write psi and mean absolute pressure — the accumulator nitrogen, the containment and the steam generator included. A real plant's gauges mostly read psig, about 14.7 psi lower; where a manual quotes a real-plant document's number it keeps that document's psig and says so.
The difference row is not a footnote. Subcooling margin, leg ΔT, DNB margin, control deadbands and cooldown rates are temperature differences: this plant at full power carries a subcooling margin of about 42.7 °F (23.7 °C) — applying the absolute rule instead would print 74.7 °F and make a thin margin look comfortable.
Reactivity (pcm, Δk/k), startup rate (DPM), counts (cps), currents (A) and time have no US/SI distinction and are quoted once.
Instruments vs truth
You operate from instruments. Gauges, alarms, and automatic protection read instrumented values (with lag, noise, and possible failure). True physical state is available only as an explicit diagnostic overlay. This is deliberate — it is how Three Mile Island is teachable.
Control names
Controls are named by their on-screen labels. Internal command names appear only in the command cross-reference at the end of chapter 03.
Recommended reading order
New operator (first session)
- 02 Simulator user guide — get the board running
- 01 Plant general description — the plant and the Mode 1–6 naming
- 03 Controls & indications (skim)
- 05 Mode transitions — PWR-T20 (Mode 5, Cold Shutdown → Mode 1, At Power) and PWR-T03 (Mode 3, Hot Standby → Mode 1, At Power)
- 04 Normal operations — N01–N02, N04–N06, N14
Mode 5, Cold Shutdown → Mode 1, At Power → Mode 5, Cold Shutdown (the full story)
- 05 §3.0 PWR-T20 (Mode 5, Cold Shutdown → Mode 1, At Power)
- Operate in Mode 1, At Power (04 power procedures)
- 05 §4.0 PWR-T21 (Mode 1, At Power → Mode 5, Cold Shutdown)
Before free-play power maneuvers (Mode 1, At Power)
- 03 (turbine load modes, feed, rods, CVCS)
- 04 power raise/lower, boron
- 09 setpoints
Before failure drills (typically Mode 1, At Power)
- 06 alarm philosophy
- 07 the matching failure
- 08 if running TMI
Where the numbers come from
Every number in this set is meant to match the simulator. Where a manual and the board disagree, the board is right and the manual is stale: tell us with Feedback in the top bar.
Scope disclaimer
| In scope | Out of scope / narrative only |
|---|---|
| Mode 5, Cold Shutdown through full power, and back | Mode 6, Refueling |
| Reactivity, pressure, level, feed, turbine | More than one reactor coolant loop (this plant has one) |
| Every injectable failure, TMI, and the containment response | Offsite dose / source-term / release models |
| ESF auto arms, RPS trips | Real-plant Tech Specs / licensing |
This is an educational lumped-parameter plant, not a full-scope replica of a licensed US PWR.
Chapters
- 01 — Plant General Description
- 02 — Simulator User Guide
- 03 — Controls and Indications
- 04 — Normal Operating Procedures
- 05 — Mode Transition Procedures
- 06 — Alarm Response Procedures
- 07 — Abnormal and Emergency Operating Procedures
- 08 — Accident Study: Three Mile Island Unit 2 (1979)
- 09 — Setpoints, Limits, and Normal Values
- 10 — Glossary
- 12 — Simulation Physics & Model Scope
These manuals are licensed CC BY 4.0 — see Legal. Training documents for an educational simulator, not licensing-basis documents for a real plant.