Triple
Crown for
Safety
By Michael McGough, NuScale.
Michael McGough
In his role at NuScale, Mike McGough
oversees the company’s worldwide
commercialization efforts, including
business development, marketing, sales,
communications and media relations.
McGough joined NuScale from UniStar
Nuclear where
he was Senior
Vice President,
Commercial
Operations.
McGough is a
34-year veteran
of the commercial
nuclear industry,
working in support
of nuclear plants
worldwide. He
has been involved
in new plants at
Westinghouse and
UniStar, dry fuel
storage as senior
vice president for NAC International,
low level waste management and
decommissioning at Duratek and Energy
Solutions.
McGough holds a Bachelor of Science
in Physical Metallurgy from Washington
State University, and MBA from the Katz
School of Business at the University
of Pittsburgh. He is also a graduate of
the Kellogg Management Institute at
Northwestern University.
Responses to questions by Newal
Agnihotri, Editor of Nuclear Plant
Journal.
1.
What are different milestones for the
NuScale reactor?
Design certification submittal to the
US NRC: 2016.
Scheduled Design certification
approval by NRC: 2019.
A target date for construction
commencement:
2020
(safety-
related concrete, upon receipt of
COL by licensee).
A target dates for the first plant
online: 2024.
2.
According to the current design of
the plant, who will be responsible for re-
fueling the reactor? Will it be the nuclear
power utility or the
manufacturer?
It will be refu-
eled by the utility
with in-house staff,
not requiring refuel-
ing outage person-
nel from outside.
3.
What proto-
type testing has been
done to validate the
design to protect
against problem dur-
ing construction and
operation of the NuS-
cale reactors?
Light water-cooled reactor systems
have long been the subject of billions
of dollars of research and development.
That’s a strong foundation for NuScale
technology. But what helps NuScale
truly stand out is our exclusive state-
of-art, first-of-its-kind prototype test
facility. The NuScale design was
initially developed in 2000 and has been
demonstrated and in testing programs
since 2003 in our one-third scale
electrically-heated prototype—affording
NuScale tremendous advantages for
modular prototype testing.
The test facility was engineered by
the same team that created the scaling
factors and designed and operated
the test facility that was the basis for
the certification of the Westinghouse
®
AP1000™ design.
Our one-third scale, prototype
replicates the entire NuScale system.
Electrically-heated, it lets designers
bring the system up to an operating
temperature, pressure, and coolant flow
conditions. Stability testing ensures
that over the intended operating span,
the natural water circulation is stable.
Additionally, tests measure pressure
losses under various conditions and
accident scenarios. This data is then
used to provide the information needed to
validate computer models for full-scale
system performance.
4.
In a complete station blackout, how
long can the reactor cool without:
Off-site power supply?
Cooling water supply?
TheNuScale plant, with its innovative
design, has achieved the ‘Triple Crown
For Nuclear Plant Safety™’: to safely
shut down and self-cool, indefinitely,
with:
No Operator Action.
No AC or DC Power.
No Additional Water.
The NuScale plant does not require
DC batteries to place the plant in a
safe cool-down condition following
an extreme event. This ‘Triple Crown’
breakthrough eliminates the DC batteries
usually needed to align valves and to
power systems needed to provide cooling
of the nuclear core. Safety valves align
in their safest configuration on loss of all
plant power.
5.
What enhancements have been made
to the NuScale design after Fukushima?
The events of Fukushima highlighted
the importance that traditional reactor's
need for back-up sources of electricity
to power the essential valves and pumps
needed for long-term cooling. The
complete station black-out caused by
the earthquake and subsequent tsunami
eventually led to extensive damage to
the Daiichi nuclear units because of their
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