REACTOR DESIGN | SMR COMPETITION
SMR shortlist explored
Six companies have been passed through to next stage of the UK nuclear technology competition that is looking to develop multiple SMRs across the country. Here we take a look at the contenders.
Below:
The EDF NUWARD reactor design
SIX SMALL MODULAR REACTOR (SMR) designs have been selected to progress to the next stage of a UK competition that forms a key part of government ambitions for up to a quarter of the country’s electricity to come from nuclear power by 2050. The designs chosen by Great British Nuclear – the government-backed body driving nuclear projects across the UK – are those considered most able to deliver operating reactors by the mid-2030s and support the UK’s ambitions to reach 24 GW of nuclear capacity by 2050. Gwen Parry-Jones, CEO of Great British Nuclear, explained: “Our priority in this process has been to prioritise reliable and sustainable power to the grid early, and that’s why we have focused our first step on the technologies that we viewed as most likely to meet the objective of a final investment decision in 2029.” The SMR competition is part of a plan for the UK to develop cutting-edge technologies to rapidly deliver cleaner, cheaper and more secure energy. A nuclear power revival is a central plank of that strategy and the companies through to the next stage will be invited to bid for government contracts later this year. The winning bidders are expected to be announced in spring next year and contracts are due to be awarded in the summer. Announcing
the initial tranche of winning entrants, UK Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “Small Modular Reactors will help the UK rapidly expand nuclear power and deliver cheaper, cleaner, and more secure energy.” EDF, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy International LLC,
Holtec Britain Limited, NuScale Power, Rolls Royce SMR and Westinghouse Electric Company UK Limited are the companies that have been chosen for the next stage of the process. Key design details and developments are outlined below:
EDF EDF’s NUWARD™ is a Generation III+ pressurised water reactor with an integrated primary loop producing 340 MWe from two independent reactors rated at 170 MWe each or 540 MWth. The two units will be housed in a single building and will share common equipment where possible. According to EDF, the design is focused on
standardisation, modular manufacturing and simplicity for in-factory mass production, and flexibility in the construction and operation phases. Furthermore, the design has been developed to support load following and adapted for non-electric uses. With a design availability of around 90%, the fuel cycle is two years and the service life is 60 years. The core features 76 fuel assemblies. In March this year, EDF created the NUWARD subsidiary in line with its objective to achieve first nuclear concrete in 2030 for its reference SMR plant in France. After finalising the conceptual design, NUWARD is now shifting to the basic design phase.
The NUWARD subsidiary will continue to work with
historic partners CEA, TechnicAtome, Naval Group as well as new partners Framatome and Tractebel who were onboarded last year. Tractebel will be responsible for the civil engineering preliminary studies and the evaluation of costs, for example. Earlier this year EDF submitted the NUWARD design to
France’s Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN – Nuclear Safety Authority), marking the start of the pre-licensing process while in June 2022, EDF announced that the design would be the case study for a European early joint regulatory review led by ASN with participation from Finland’s Radiation & Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) and the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB). Renaud Crassous, NUWARD’s President said: “We are
committed to increasing the speed of execution to deliver the NUWARD™ SMR design on time to meet market expectations for first nuclear concrete as early as 2030”. According to EDF’s SMR roadmap, the detailed design and
32 | WNE Special Edition |
www.neimagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
