ORANGEBURG — A simulated nuclear reactor control room is the latest addition to S.C. State University’s campus, part of the school’s efforts to prepare students to enter the nuclear industry.
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The bank of data-laden monitors sits on the second floor of the university’s engineering building, offers students majoring in nuclear engineering hands-on experience managing a reactor.
It’s based on the simulators used to train operators for NuScale, an Oregon-based designer and manufacturer of modular reactors. S.C. State is one of just 10 institutions in the world with that specific simulator, and the only historically Black university.
“I’m excited that this gets to place our students at such an advantage,” university President Alexander Conyers said at a May 21 opening ceremony.
During a demonstration, a NuScale representative walked one of the school’s engineering students through a power-down procedure in the baking-hot control room. Moments later, a built-in subwoofer rumbled with the sound of an earthquake, knocking out the 12-unit plant’s power output but avoiding an atomic crisis because of the simulated plant’s safeguards.
Screens show data from a simulated modular nuclear reactor at S.C. State University’s campus in Orangeburg.
Ian Grenier/Staff
The cost of the simulator is covered by an $8 million appropriation from the state last year, intended to fund research and the university’s workforce development efforts meant to steer graduates to the Savannah River National Laboratory, part of the Savannah River Site nuclear facility. That state money also brought on board new engineering and science faculty and laboratory renovations.
S.C. State has emphasized its research work in recent years, meeting Conyers’ goal of becoming the state’s only R2 university, a designation denoting high research activity.
It’s a step below the R1 designation held by major research universities such as the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina — but the Orangeburg school’s leadership has their eyes set on that top level.
It already has the state’s only undergraduate nuclear engineering major, and manages an environmental science field office affiliated with the national laboratory.
The university’s continued focus on nuclear science comes as the state legislature in May passed a massive energy reform bill which, among other changes, encourages electric utilities to evaluate the potential for using small, modular nuclear reactors in the state — like the ones simulated by the S.C. State’s new facility.
Such modular reactors are smaller than traditional nuclear plants. The new law says that “suitable sites” for the technology could include existing nuclear plants or coal-fired ones.
University leaders see their students as future engineers in those sorts of facilities, as the industry faces a shortfall of young workers.
“This is the kind of immersive experience that sets our students apart,” said Musa Danjaji, chair of the university’s engineering department. “With this simulator, our students gain early exposure to the very technologies shaping the next generation of nuclear power.”