Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor

Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor

The reactor formally known as Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) is a passively safe generation III+ reactor which builds on the success of the ABWR. Both are designs by General Electric, and are based on their BWR design.

The ESBWR uses natural circulation with no recirculation pumps or their associated piping.

The passively safe characteristics are mainly based on isolation condensers, which are heat exchangers that take steam from the vessel (isolation condensers, IC) or the containment (passive containment cooling system, PCCS), condense the steam, transfer the heat to a water pool, and introduce the water into the vessel again.

This is also based on the gravity driven cooling system (GDCS), which are pools above the vessel. When very low water level is detected in the reactor, the depressurization system opens several very large valves to reduce vessel pressure and finally to allow these GDCS pools to re-flood the vessel.

The core is made shorter than conventional BWR plants in an effort to reduce the pressure drop over the fuel, thereby enabling natural circulation. There are 1132 bundles and the thermal power is 4500 MWth (1550 MWe).

Below the vessel, there is a piping structure which allows for cooling of the core during a very severe accident. These pipes divide the molten core and cool it with water flowing through the piping.

The probability of radioactivity release to the atmosphere is several orders of magnitude lower than conventional nuclear power plants, and the building cost is 60-70% of other light water reactors.

The energy production cost is lower than other plants due to:

#Lower initial capital cost
#Lower operational and maintenance cost

General Electric has recalculated maximum core damage frequencies per year per plant for its nuclear power plant designs: [http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/docs/2006-1-3.pdf] :BWR/4 -- 1 x 10-5 (a typical plant):BWR/6 -- 1 x 10-6 (a typical plant):AP1000 -- 5.09 × 10–7 (received final design approval from the NRC):ABWR -- 2 x 10-7 (now operating in Japan):European Pressurized Reactor -- 6.1 × 10-7 (being built in France & Finland):ESBWR -- 3 x 10-8 (submitted for Final Design Approval by NRC)The ESBWR's maximum core damage frequency is significantly lower than that of the AP1000 or the European Pressurized Reactor. citation |url=http://www.areva-np.com/common/liblocal/docs/Brochure/EPR_US_%20May%202005.pdf |title=EPR - Areva brochure|publisher=Areva NP|date=May 2005 |accessdate=2008-01-02]

See also

*Nuclear power
*Nuclear safety in the U.S.
*Economics of new nuclear power plants
*Boiling Water Reactor
*Generation III reactor
*Nuclear Power 2010 Program
*AP1000

References

External links

* [http://www.world-nuclear.org/sym/2004/white.htm Global Nuclear Energy: A GE Perspective] : Address by the GE CEO (2003).
* [http://www.gepower.com/about/press/en/2005_press/092605a.htm Announcement] of two proposed ESBWR sites in the USA (2004).
* [http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/docs/2006-1-3.pdf Design overview] published in ANS Nuclear News (2006).
* [http://np2010.ne.doe.gov/NP2010current.asp DOE's Nuclear Power 2010 Program ESBWR page] - contains pdfs with detailed design & system descriptions.
* [http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/thumbnails-484.html Pictures] of ESBWR design
* [http://www.brucepower.com/uc/GetDocument.aspx?docid=2329 BrucePower Open House] , see Appendix B2

* Application for US certification (2005):
** [http://www.energyonline.com/news/articles/ArticleFor083105.asp Energy Online] .
** [http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2005/08/ge-submits-esbwr-to-nrc-for-design.html NEI Nuclear Notes] .


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