3D Training Scenarios Development for Inspection of Nuclear Material in Transit Using Virtual Reality Technology

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A person who performs or plans to conduct a physical protection inspection as stipulated by the law, the act on physical protection and radiological emergency, should obtain an inspector’s ID card certified and authorized by Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Order No.137 (referred to as Order 137). In addition, according to Order 137, KINAC has been operating some training courses for those with the inspector’s ID card or intending to acquire it. Also, strenuous efforts have been put to incrementally elevate their inspection related expertise. Since Republic of Korea has to import uranium enriched less than 20% in order to manufacture fuels of nuclear reactors in domestic and abroad, the physical protection for categorization III nuclear material in transit is significantly important along with an increase in transport. The expertise of inspectors should be constantly needed to strengthen as the increase in transport leads to an increase in inspection of nuclear material in transit. We have suggested a special way to improve the inspector’s capacities through Virtual Reality technology (VR). A 3-Dimensional virtual space was designed and developed using a 3-axis simulator and VR equipment for practical training. HP’s Reverb G2 product, which was developed in collaboration with VALVE Corporation and MicroSoft, was used as VR equipment, and the 3-axis motion simulator was developed by M-line STUDIO corp. in Korea for the purpose of realizing virtual reality. The training scenarios of transport inspection consist of three parts: preparation at the shipping point, transport in route including stops and handover at the receiving point. At the departure point, scenario of the transport preparation is composed with the contents of checking the transport-related documents which should be carried by shipper and/or carrier during transport and confirming who the shipper and/or carrier is. Second, scenario is designed for inspector to experience how carrier and/or shipper protect the nuclear material during transport or stops for rests or contingency and how they communicate with each other during transport. Lastly, scenario is developed focusing on key check items during handover of responsibilities to the facility operator at the destination. Those training scenarios can be adopted to strengthen the capabilities of those with inspector’s ID card of physical protection in accordance with Order 137 and to help new inspectors acquire inspectionrelated expertise. In addition, they can be used for domestic education to promote understanding of nuclear security, or may be used for education for people overseas for the purpose of export of nuclear facilities.