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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2014
Triple Crown...
inability to power their safety systems.
Their final lines of defense were banks of
DC batteries with a limited life.
Two years after the Fukushima
event, NuScale introduced a safety
system for our nuclear reactor that does
not require DC batteries to place the plant
in a safe cool-down condition following
an extreme event. This is a revolutionary
solution to one of the biggest technical
challenges for the current fleet of nuclear
energy facilities. Because of our unique
design, it allows the NuScale plant to
achieve a ‘Triple Crown for nuclear plant
safety’—to safely shut down and self-
cool, indefinitely, with no operator action,
no AC or DC Power and no additional
water. The patent pending breakthrough
eliminates all of the DC batteries usually
needed to align valves and to power
systems needed to provide cooling of the
nuclear core.
How it works – All commercial
nuclear power plants currently use large
banks of DC batteries as backup power
for their Engineered Safety Feature
Actuation Systems (ESFAS). Because
these batteries serve a safety function,
they are classified as a “1E system.” One
of the key functions of the ESFAS is to
start the emergency core cooling system
(ECCS). Because of the simplicity of the
NuScale design, only a handful of safety
valves need to be opened in the event of
an accident to ensure actuation of the
ECCS. These safety valves have been
mechanically pre-set to align to their safe
condition without the use of batteries
following a loss of all station power.
No AC or DC power is required for this
valve alignment. Similarly, no pumps or
additional water are required to provide
an indefinite period of core cooling. The
only safety related DC batteries that will
be needed for aNuScale plant would be for
the purpose of post-accident monitoring
of system conditions. The complete
1E alternate power system concept,
eliminating the need for safety grade DC
power to accomplish ESFAS functions
for shutdown and core cooling, was
presented to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission at a meeting on December
4, 2012 and the non-provisional patent
was filed in March 2013.
6.
You may share any domestic or
international utilities who have expressed
interest in NuScale.
There is substantial domestic and
international interest in small modular
reactors and in the NuScale design.
Since NuScale’s design was selected as
the sole winner of the second round of
the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE)
cost-sharing program to develop nuclear
SMR technology, we’ve seen significant
additional customer interest. We are
actively pursuing this huge market
opportunity while maintaining a priority
on domestic licensing, manufacturing,
and deployment opportunities.
Ultimately, the location of our first
plant will be decided by the first customer.
At NuScale, we currently have 24 major
utilities (and growing) participating on
our Customer Advisory Board—each
with the need for power in the timeframe
that aligns with our Design Certification
Application (DCA) date.
In June 2013, NuScale Power
announced the launch of the Western
Initiative for Nuclear (ProjectWIN™)—a
broad, multi-western state collaboration
— to study the demonstration and
deployment of a multi-module NuScale
Small Modular Reactor plant in the
Western United States. A NuScale SMR
built as part of Project WIN is projected
to be operational by 2024.
Project WIN is viewed as the
initial project in a subsequent series
of projects in WA, UT, WY, AZ and
NM. The first NuScale plant will most
likely be developed, built and owned by
a consortium of regional utilities like
Project WIN, and operated by one of
these utilities with a preferred location
within the Idaho National Laboratory
Site. Similar projects have been initiated
around the world and will be announced
in the coming months.
The Project WIN initiative was
unveiled by NuScale’s Chairman
and CEO John Hopkins and Chief
Commercial Officer Mike McGough
along with number of key stakeholders
at the Western Governors’ Association
annual meeting held in Park City, Utah.
Also, at the WGA meeting, the governors
announced a 10-year energy vision which
Aerial Plant Site - A smaller footprint, therefore less land than a traditional
nuclear power plant, is just one aspect of the Economies of Small that
NuScale is using to change commercial nuclear power. A 540 MWe NuScale
project requires only 44 acres of land.
