Modular nuclear power reactors

WATER COOLED MODULAR NUCLEAR POWER REACTOR ABV OKBM,... 

The MBRU-12 is a modular nuclear power plant (NPP) with sodium cooled fast reactor. The name reflects the main engineering bases of the concept a fast spectrum of neutrons, metallic (sodium) coolant, NPP assembly from factory-built equipment modules and a nominal value of electric power. 

The Secure Transportable Autonomous Reactor - Liquid Metal (STAR-LM) project at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL, USA) was undertaken to develop a modular nuclear power plant for electric power production with optional production of desalinated water that meets the requirements of a future sustainable world energy supply architecture optimized for nuclear rather than fossil energy [XXIII-1], Those requirements include features that facilitate deployment in developing as well as developed countries such as enhanced proliferation resistance, sustainability, economy, nearly autonomous operation, and a range of plant power levels compatible with widely varying extents of national nuclear infrastructure and local electric grid development. 

In many poor African states there is no electricity grid or coverage is very limited, but there are often dispersed locations that could use significant amounts of energy—an aluminum smelter in Mozambique, for example. A nuclear power plant could provide electricity, but South African efforts to introduce a new small-scale technology, the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, which is far safer than previous reactors and can be controlled and shut down remotely, are being hampered by international rejection of older nuclear technologies.12 (See Cohen, this volume, about nuclear power science and politics in the United States.)... 

Pebble-Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) A nuclear reactor technology that utilizes tiny silicon carbide-coated uranium oxide granules sealed in pebbles about the size of oranges, made of graphite. Helium is used as the coolant and energy transfer medium. This containment of the radioactive material in small quantities has the potential to achieve an unprecedented level of safety. This technology may become popular in the development of new nuclear power plants. 

In terms of safety, two issues are regularly debated. First, the issue of nuclear waste and, second, concerns over potential terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants. The first objection may be overcome through the introduction of new types of power plants, such as the pebble-bed modular reactor.This type of reactor uses graphite balls flecked with tiny amounts of uranium, rather than conventional fuel rods. With the fuel encased in graphite and impermeable silicon carbide, the theory is that the waste should be relatively easy to dispose of.The terrorism fears are less easily addressed and may ultimately stall the construction of new plants in countries such as the U.S., where these worries are greatest. 

LaBar, M.P. 2002. The Gas-Turbine Modular Helium Reactor A Promising Option for Near-Term Deployment. In Proceedings of International Congress on Advanced Nuclear Power Plants, June, Hollywood, Fla. La Grange Park, 111. American Nuclear Society. 

This section includes a brief early history of the development of nuclear power, primarily in the United States. Individual chapters cover the pressurized water reactor (PVVR), boiling water reactor (BWR), and the CANDU Reactor. These three reactor types are used in nuclear power stations in North America, and represent more than 90% of reactors worldwide. Further, this section includes a chapter describing the gas cooled reactor, liquid metal cooled fast reactor, the molten salt reactor, and small modular reactors, and concludes with a discussion of the next generation of reactors, known as "Gen IV."... 

Modular High Temperature Reactor Power Plant Prospects for Capital Costs and Economy, I.A. Weisbrodt, KWU AG/Interatom GmbH, Federal Republic of Germany, Conference on Nuclear Power Plant Innovation for the 1990s, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Boston, US, December 1984. 

The CANDU nuclear power system has evolved over a 40-year period, and has accumulated over 105 reactor-years of operating experience. Standardization and modularization has always been a key thrust of CANDU designs. 

The INTERATOM design of modular HTR also benefits from KWU s extensive experience in the construction of LWR s. The pressure vessels used for HTR-modules e.g. are fabricated from ferritic steel like the pressure vessels for KWU s LWR. INTERATOM itself has constructed SMPR s like an integrated pressurized water reactor (38 MWth, equal to 10000 shaft horse power) for the nuclear powered ship "Otto Hahn". KNK-II a sodium cooled fast reactor (20 MW(e)), in operation at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FRG) and the sodium cooled fast breeder reactor SNR-300 (300 MW(e)), still under commissioning, going to full power operation at Kalkar (FRG) in 1986. 

The recent design concept is based on a modular nuclear steam supply system - each module has a reactor core, steam generator and recirculation pump, with individual ancillary systems. The core thermal power of each module is 670 MW, corresponding to about 200 MW(e), and power plants of (200) - 400 - 600 - (800) MW(e) can be accomplished by using 1-4 modules In a common pressure vessel. 

RA-8 is a critical facility located at the Pilcaniyeu Technological Complex (Centro Tecnologico de Pilcaniyeu), about 60 km from San Carlos de Bariloche. The reactor, which reached criticality for the first time in June 1997, can be operated during steady state conditions at any constant power up to 10 W, or at 100 W in short transients. The reactor was developed with the specific objective to validate codes used for neutronic core calculations, and to study the nuclear design parameters of a modular Argentinian LWR power reactor named CAREM. 

IV-4] PONOMAREV-STEPNOI, N.N., et al.. Nuclear power plants with VBER-300 reactor based on the technologies of modular marine reactors. Journal Conversion in machine-building . No. 6 (2003, in Russian). 

The abbreviation ABV in Russian stands for nuclear, modular, water . Modular means it is possible to assemble a nuclear power plant of large functional factory-made units including the reactor unit and turbine generator plant. 

XXII-2] SIENICKI, J.J., MOISSEYTSEV, A.V., SSTAR lead-cooled, small modular fast reactor for deployment at remote sites - system thermal hydraulic development, ICAPP 2005, Paper 5426 (Int. Conf on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants Seoul, May 15-19, 2005). 

XXV-I6] SIENICKI, J.J., SPENCER, B.W., Power optimization in the Star-LM modular natural convection reactor system, ICONE-10 (Proc. 10 Int. Conf. on Nuclear Engineering, Arlington, Virginia, USA, April 2002) ASME. 

JLABAR, M.P., The gas turbine-modular reactor A promising option for near term deployment, ICAPP 02 Advanced Nuclear Power Plants (Proc. Int. Congress, Hollywood, FL, USA), ICAPP 02- ISBN 0-89448-663-2 (2002). 

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