Design and Technology Development Status and Design Considerations for Innovative Small and Medium Sized Reactors

Abstract

There is continuing interest in Member States in the development and application of small and medium sized reactors (SMRs), i.e., the reactors with an equivalent electric power of less than 700 MW. In 2006–2007, several distinct “families” of innovative SMRs comprising more than 50 innovative concepts and designs have been analyzed or developed by national or international programs involving Argentina, Brazil, China, Croatia, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lithuania, Morocco, Russian Federation, South Africa, Turkey, USA, and Vietnam. Innovative SMRs are under development for all principal reactor lines. The target dates when they could be ready for deployment protrude from 2010 to 2030. The designers of innovative small and medium sized reactors pursue new design and deployment strategies making use of certain advantages provided by smaller reactor size and capacity to achieve reduced design complexity and simplified operation and maintenance requirements and to provide for incremental capacity increase through multiple plant clustering or multimodule plant construction. Competitiveness of SMRs depends on the incorporated strategies to overcome loss of economies of scale but equally it depends on finding appropriate market niches for such reactors, which generically include markets with limited investment capability potentially benefiting from reaching the targeted nuclear power station capacity incrementally, small electrical grids, off-grid locations, and nonelectrical applications of nuclear power.