Learning facilities

Across its sites, INSTN has a wide-ranging, high-performance collection of educational platforms and equipment, tailored to the students, objectives and contents of its training courses. This means that participants can apply the knowledge and skills acquired during lab work in simulated or real-life situations very similar to the actual environments and work stations.

Job platforms / mock-up training facilities

At its training sites of Cherbourg-en-Contentin (50), Marcoule (30) and Saclay (91), INSTN runs mock-up training facilities dedicated to field operations in basic nuclear facilities and radiation protection: nuclear reactor-type mock-up training facilities and fuel cycle research center.

INSTN also provides access to tools specifically designed for job requirements: glove boxes, MT200 remote manipulators, haptic simulator, Dosicase® (radiological hazard awareness training equipment), hydraulic cursor and Tuflin valve, etc.

Access to plant operator facilities

Thanks to its unique situation within the CEA teams and close to the Center facilities, INSTN learners can access the CEA’s research platforms and laboratories (FabLab Formadditive, Pourdrinnov, Prod-H2, Doseo, etc.), but also, thanks to strong partner relationships, visit facilities belonging to nuclear plant operators and industrial partners.

Digital solutions

3D immersion simulators: To immerse learners in a professional environment or context, INSTN can also make use of 3D simulators (VERT room for radiation therapy), mixed reality (real-life environment and 3D) (EVOC reactor physics simulator) or serious games (OSIRIS and EmSimBasics® for radiation protection in industrial or medical environments).

Simulation and computing codes: INSTN is supported by a range of simulators and computing codes 

• In the reactor field: simulation of PWRs (SOFIA, C-PWR); thermal hydraulics (FLICA); neutronics and calculations for PWRs (APOLLO, CRONOS); particle transport, Monte-Carlo (TRIPOLI, GEANT4, MCNP)
• Medical imagery: Barinvista, Gate
• Radiological hazard (DOSIMEX, Microshield)
• Dismantling jobsites (DemPlus, etc.)
• Etc.

On-line training platform

On-line assessment, synchronous and asynchronous training, remote training, virtual classes, quizzes or animations, gamification, etc., INSTN has introduced a package of tools and methods built around its on-line training platform Instart Learning Experience to offer a digital space to its learners. And to support the digitalization of the training courses: a method for specifying the targeted skills, educational and digital engineering, means of producing digital resources and a space dedicated to educational design and innovation.

Hands-on work laboratories

INSTN is renewing and modernizing its hands-on work spaces, which contain a wide range of scientific and technical equipment similar to that found in research and industry:

• Biology and radiobiology (liquid scintillation detectors, liquid scintillation analyzer, gamma counter, proportional counter, PCR instruments, activity meter, etc.),
• Radiochemistry and related spectrometries (alpha, gamma and beta),
• Metallurgy and material characterization (scanning electron microscopes, X ray diffractometer, germanium detector, dilatometer, tensile and hardness testing machines, polishing machines, optical microscopes, heat treatment furnaces, etc.),
• Detection and measurement of beta, gamma, neutron and X rays (detectors, neutron sources, spectrometry software, fog chamber, etc.).