Entrant details
Role or Job Title on the Project
Plant Layout and Integration Group Manager
Employer
Tractebel ENGIE
Brussels, Belgium
https://tractebel-engie.be/en
Employer Role
Architecture or Engineering Company
Are you or your employer a member of buildingSMART?
No
Submission details
Submitting Party Company Name
TRACTEBEL ENGIE
Submitting Party Company Location
Brussels, Belgium
Submitting Party Role on Project
Owner's engineer
Submitting Party Company Website
Full Project Name
D&D - Inventory of radioactive content of Doel 3 and Tihange 2
Project Location (Country)
Belgium
Project Objectives
Project objective is to characterize the activation levels of the reactor buildings of the nuclear power plants in order to estimate the amount of radiological wastes that will be generated during their dismantling. This characterization is key for the preparation of the Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) of Nuclear Power Plants as it impacts the whole D&D program from the nuclear waste management studies, to the design of D&D infrastructures, and the scheduling of the D&D activities.
openBIM Achievements
Using IFC and STEP format as an input to our simulation software (MCNP) through McCAD enables us to save a considerable amount of time, avoid tedious and costly remodeling of the geometries in MCNP and avoids transcription mistakes. A direct saving of about 200k€ has been achieved for Doel 3. We developed a central openBIM/IFC model allowing the exchange of data from and to different PIM software enabling much more savings in the future. Later on a fully integrated, collaborative, common data environment could be achieved for the D&D projects aiming at creating progressively a “digital twin for D&D”.
openBIM used
IFC4
openBIM or open standards used other than those listed above
STEP format has also been used.
Software used
REVIT©, Microstation© Connect, OpenCascade©/pythonOCC©, SALOME©, McCAD©, MCNP©
Strategic Alignment
The project not only saves money on a short time basis (saving time of remodelling) but it paves the way to an integrated common data environment for the Decontamination and Decommissioning projects. As such it improves software interoperability, collaboration and efficiency and reduces risks of errors in the future. D&D projects are very long projects and would rely difficultly on a document-centric only approach.
Highlights
- Modelling Reactor building civil structures as well as some major mechanical and piping components.
- Direct saving of about 200k€ has been achieved for Doel 3. Development of a central openBIM/IFC model allowing the exchange of data from and to different PIM software enabling much more savings in the future.
- Development enabling the creation of a “digital twin for Decontamination & Decommissioning”
Project and Stakeholder Logos (compiled into one .ppt/pptx file for upload)
Project Address
Nuclear power plant of Tihange, Avenue de l'Industrie 1, 4500 Huy, BELGIUM
Nuclear power plant of Doel, Haven 1800, Scheldemolenstraat, 9130 Oude Doel, BELGIUM
Project Type
Industrial
Size of Project
About 7000m³ of concrete has been modelled for Doel 3.
Project is part of the huge Decontamination and Decommissioning program (budget of many millions euros).
Detailed description of the project
The Decontamination and decommissioning of a nuclear power plant is the final phase of their lifecycle after siting, design, construction, commissioning and operation. There are two nuclear energy production sites in Belgium. One is located in Doel and consists of four pressurized water reactors. The other production site is located in Tihange and consists of three pressurized water reactors. It is currently foreseen to definitely close the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 Nuclear power plants in less than 5 years. The program of preparation of the Decontamination and Decommissioning Phase of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 includes many activities:
—Preparation and execution of the activities to be performed during the Post-Operational Phase to bring the unit in the required state: decontaminated and free of spent fuel, operational waste, legacy waste, and other removable hazards
—Preparation and licensing of the activities to be performed during the Decontamination and Decommissioning Phase
—Design, modification or construction, licensing, and commissioning of the necessary infrastructures
The present project which is candidate to the buildingSMART awards is one key part of the dismantling preparation program. Its aim is to perform the inventory of activated concrete of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 nuclear power plants’ reactor buildings. The reactor buildings are hosting the pressurized water reactors. The concrete structures located near the core have been irradiated by neutrons and parts of them are activated. The activated concrete represents an important part of the radiological inventory of nuclear power plants. Improved characterization of the activated waste inventory is key for the nuclear waste management studies (better characterization of the nuclear waste), for the design of D&D infrastructures (the amount of nuclear waste produced impacts the sizing of these infrastructures), for the scheduling and cost of the D&D activities and for the D&D licensing studies.
The past models for evaluation of activated waste inventory were simplified and did not cover the full range of reactor building concrete walls. The goal of this project is to establish an accurate model for estimating the radiological inventory. Due to its complexity such large models need to be validated / calibrated. This will be done through installation of activation foils at key locations in situ and recollection of the activation foils after a while to measure their activation. Activity measurement on concrete samples will also be performed after the final stop of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 units.
A comprehensive 3D model of the Reactor Buildings of Doel 3 has been created in Revit and exported to IFC (key for export to MCNP). In addition, some components that have been modelled in the frame of previous projects using CAD software have been exported to STEP and integrated in the overall model. Thanks to the openBIM developments in Tractebel Engie, the work of our engineers performing neutron transport calculation with MCNP has been considerably eased. Indeed, the modelling of complex structures is a tedious, complicated and error prone task in MCNP but is considerably simpler using CAD / PIM / BIM software. Thanks to the development the design engineers were able to estimate accurately the radiological inventory of Doel 3 reactor building concrete walls.
The same methodology will be applied for Tihange 2 in the coming months.
Detailed description of openBIM on the project
General description of ongoing “Open PIM” development in Tractebel:
For this project Tractebel made use of its current internal developments part of Tractebel “Open PIM” development program. As part of its “Open PIM” development program Tractebel develops gateways to improve interoperability between modeling software and also calculation software. We chose the openBIM approach and the IFC file format to develop PIM capabilities, methods and tools.
PIM stands for Plant Information Modelling by analogy to BIM. BIM and PIM software have been historically designed with very different purposes. BIM software (e.g. REVIT, ARCHICAD, TEKLA) were created for the design of building and architecture projects. PIM software (e.g. OPENPLANT, E3D (PDMS), SMARTPLANT) were created for the design of plants with complex processes and systems. BIM and PIM software has progressively extended its fields of use. BIM "building" software have the ability to export and import models in IFC format. However most PIM software do not have the capability to generate IFC models. Two different ISO standard specifies the BIM and PIM data models: ISO 29481 and 16739 for BIM and IFC and ISO 15926 for PIM. Tractebel uses both BIM and PIM software. For PIM Tractebel uses Bentley Microstation and OpenPlant.
Tractebel didn’t find off-the-shelf commercial solutions to improve the interoperability of our 3D/BIM/PIM models. Many engineering software for Building / Plant Information Modelling (BIM/PIM) mainly work in “Closed BIM /PIM” i.e. an environment where the same commercial software or software suite must be used by all project stakeholders in order to implement an operational BIM/PIM process. This “Closed BIM/PIM” approach prevents efficient collaboration with many stakeholders.
Tractebel decided to create the necessary gateways between the fit-for-purpose engineering software used in the entity based on the openBIM approach; essentially adopting the IFC exchange format to develop the data-centric, viewer and user interface platform for all applications with licence-free / open source libraries.
The “Open PIM” developments are ongoing and are now mature enough to bring added value to customers on their projects and collaborate with our engineers and partners. Thereby we are maximizing efficiency and collaboration without having to switch to another software.
Tractebel “Open PIM” development program follows a modular approach for the development of the openBIM for PIM. The following modules have been developed and work with success (others modules will be added):
- “PIM Integration Tool”: the central PIM integration tool allowing the integration (import and export), the management of models and models data in IFC format with a user interface allowing the visualization of the models, the product tree and data. It also enables parsing, handling and customizing all data processing to the project needs: clash detection, calculation and export of specific quantities and properties for input decks, specific clash detection, modification of the data in the IFC, etc. A prototype has been developed and has already been used on several projects.
- “PIM to BIM” : the aim of the “PIM to BIM” activities is to retrieve all object properties and quantities (including Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) which paves the way to actual collaboration for geometry modifications, not just a visualization of non-editable objects) from the closed BIM/PIM models of the native files and reformat them in IFC format. Prototypes have been developed using BENTLEY API / SDK for transfer from Bentley OpenPlant and Microstation to IFC.
- "BIM to SIM": to develop gateways enabling the transfer of geometric and functional data from the central IFC model to the calculation and SIMulation software e.g. piping calculations, structural, CFD, radiation protection, systems calculations, etc. Prototypes have been developed for transfer of IFC to MCNP and to ANSYS
- “BIM to AR/VR”: export BIM (IFC) to Augmented/Virtual Reality. A prototype has been developed for transferring IFC to our VR software allowing to conduct design review, moving freely in the structure, taking measurements in situ/georeferenced pictures, define/move cutting plans, display the properties and the tree structure objects in the model, mark/display objects, detect errors.
- “SCAN to BIM”: improvement of interoperability of point clouds with openBIM (it is not always necessary to remodel the point clouds in CAD/BIM). A prototype has been developed for direct integration of the point cloud with different types of data bases and calculation/simulation tools and advanced processing capabilities for automatic recognition of systems, structures and equipment in a point cloud to facilitate their conversion into openBIM.
- “SE to BIM”: integrating Systems Engineering capabilities and openBIM
Use of openBIM in the project:
In the project “Inventory and radiological characterization of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 nuclear power plants for preparation of their dismantling” we wanted to avoid costly remodelling of all the geometries in MCNP. We used SALOME (Opencascade based software) and McCAD pluggin to import geometries and to produce an MCNP calculation input file for concrete activation calculation. SALOME is coded in Python and compatible with IFCopenshell already used in our “Open PIM” development program.
SALOME doesn’t support IFC file format but is able to read STEP AP214 files. As a result the following capabilities have been used:
- Correction of STEP files exported from Microstation: some 3D modelling software export poor quality STEP (and even sometimes corrupted files). Correction routines have been developed to fix syntax errors and geometrical conversion issues from the existing models of the reactor buildings and mechanical components.
- Generation of STEP file from the IFC exported by REVIT for the modelling of new structures.
- Consolidation of the integrated STEP model of the reactor buildings of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 with new STEP models generated by REVIT.
- Generation of an MCNP input file for concrete activation calculations.
Software ecosystem map
openBIM Supporting Evidence
Benefits from using openBIM
Using IFC format as an input to our simulation software (MCNP) through McCAD enables us to save considerable time and avoid costly remodelling of the geometries in MCNP. Indeed the remodelling of the geometries in MCNP would have been very complex and time consuming for the design engineers performing MCNP simulations. A direct saving of about 200k€ (Doel 3 only) for the client Electrabel has been achieved thanks to the conversion of existing models to STEP and the modelling of the geometries with fit for purpose software (REVIT).
What’s key for the future is the development of a central openBIM/IFC platform allowing the exchange of data from and to different PIM software. This will improve project efficiency and enable much more savings in the future. Later on a fully integrated, collaborative, common data environment could be achieved for the D&D projects aiming at creating progressively a “digital twin for D&D”..
"We were able to innovate using openBIM."
We opened the capabilities of the PIM. We made our engineering software work seamlessly all together with smart coding. We break the limitations of PIM proprietary formats. We compensate the lack of interoperability between 3D software. It opens-up full collaboration and integration perspectives with a common data environment based on an universal open file format (IFC). Our engineers continue working with tools they know; but with better efficiencies; collaboration, model quality, up to date data, records,…
Using the IFC file format avoids creating new ontologies and many specific gateways between proprietary formats.
"We were able to identify where we need openBIM to develop further."
We basically exported geometries from the IFC and DGN (Microstation) files to STEP for MCNP because McCAD only supports STEP. In the future we plan:
- To further enrich the integrated IFC models of the reactor buildings with non-geometrical data e.g. materials by using other PIM / BIM modelling softwares (OpenPlant, REVIT) or by adding the data directly with the PIM Integration Tool.
- To include more system structures and components to the model with the goal of producing a D&D digital twin that could be used throughout the project for various uses doing from calculation model generation to project management and operation scheduling.
- To develop capabilities to reimport the MCNP calculations results in the IFC model enriching the metamodel of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactor buildings.
BIM Uses were defined on the project
I agree to be contacted about the project BIM uses outside of this awards program.
Stakeholders
TRACTEBEL ENGIE, Brussels, BELGIUM,
https://tractebel-engie.be/en, Drafting Office Team Leader & NUC BIM Coordinator, Thibaut Helman
TRACTEBEL ENGIE, Brussels, BELGIUM,
https://tractebel-engie.be/en, Design Engineer, Nicolas Slosse
TRACTEBEL ENGIE, Brussels, BELGIUM,
https://tractebel-engie.be/en, Project Manager (Tractebel), Kristien De Clerck
TRACTEBEL ENGIE, Brussels, BELGIUM,
https://tractebel-engie.be/en, BIM Modeller, Anne Jungers
TRACTEBEL ENGIE, Brussels, BELGIUM,
https://tractebel-engie.be/en, Innovation Manager, Célestin Piette
ENGIE ELECTRABEL, Brussels, BELGIUM,
https://www.engie-electrabel.be, Project Manager (Electrabel), Philippe Lannoo
TRACTEBEL ENGIE, Brussels, BELGIUM,
https://tractebel-engie.be/en, Plant Layout and Integration Group Manager, Arnaud Duchêne
