Economic potential of modular reactor nuclear power plants based on the Chinese HTR-PM project

Zhang, Zuoyi; Sun, Yuzhu

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2007.04.001

Cited by 140 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The few studies using a bottom-up approach decompose an SMR into major constituent components (many of which have yet to be fabricated) and build up a total capital-cost estimate using a combination of authors' judgments and consultation with component vendors (e.g., ref. 28). At the early stages of design development, even these bottom-up approaches may be performed relative to a benchmark such as a large reactor design.…”

Section: Why Smrs?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Expert assessments of the cost of light water small modular reactors

Abdulla

Azevedo

Morgan

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Analysts and decision makers frequently want estimates of the cost of technologies that have yet to be developed or deployed. Small modular reactors (SMRs), which could become part of a portfolio of carbon-free energy sources, are one such technology. Existing estimates of likely SMR costs rely on problematic topdown approaches or bottom-up assessments that are proprietary. When done properly, expert elicitations can complement these approaches. We developed detailed technical descriptions of two SMR designs and then conduced elicitation interviews in which we obtained probabilistic judgments from 16 experts who are involved in, or have access to, engineering-economic assessments of SMR projects. Here, we report estimates of the overnight cost and construction duration for five reactor-deployment scenarios that involve a large reactor and two light water SMRs. Consistent with the uncertainty introduced by past cost overruns and construction delays, median estimates of the cost of new large plants vary by more than a factor of 2.5. Expert judgments about likely SMR costs display an even wider range. Median estimates for a 45 megawattselectric (MW e ) SMR range from $4,000 to $16,300/kW e and from $3,200 to $7,100/kW e for a 225-MW e SMR. Sources of disagreement are highlighted, exposing the thought processes of experts involved with SMR design. There was consensus that SMRs could be built and brought online about 2 y faster than large reactors. Experts identify more affordable unit cost, factory fabrication, and shorter construction schedules as factors that may make light water SMRs economically viable.nuclear power economics | technology assessment

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Section: Why Smrs?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Expert assessments of the cost of light water small modular reactors

Abdulla

Azevedo

Morgan

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…where variables x, ξ are given by Equations (3) and (4) respectively, and vector-valued functions f(x) and g(x) are determined by (8) and (9) respectively.…”

Section: Design Of Power-level Regulator Based On Feedback Dissipatiomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This demonstration power plant deploys a two module scheme, where one module stands for one nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) which includes a 250 MW th one-zone pebble-bed high temperature gas-cooled reactor, a helical coiled once-through steam generator (OTSG) and some connecting pipes. This configuration not only guarantees the vital inherent safety properties but also provides the competitive economic characteristics [8]. The reactor core and the OTSG are arranged side by side, as illustrated in Figure 1, and are housed in a steel pressure vessel, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Output Feedback Dissipation Control for the Power-Level of Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors

Dong

2011

Energies

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Because of its strong inherent safety features and the high outlet temperature, the modular high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor (MHTGR) is the chosen technology for a new generation of nuclear power plants. Such power plants are being considered for industrial applications with a wide range of power levels, thus power-level regulation is very important for their efficient and stable operation. Exploiting the large scale asymptotic closed-loop stability provided by nonlinear controllers, a nonlinear power-level regulator is presented in this paper that is based upon both the techniques of feedback dissipation and well-established backstepping. The virtue of this control strategy, i.e., the ability of globally asymptotic stabilization, is that it takes advantage of the inherent zero-state detectability property of the MHTGR dynamics. Moreover, this newly built power-level regulator is also robust towards modeling uncertainty in the control rod dynamics. If modeling uncertainty of the control rod dynamics is small enough to be omitted, then this control law can be simplified to a classical proportional feedback controller. The comparison of the control performance between the newly-built power controller and the simplified controller is also given through numerical study and theoretical analysis.

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“…Then, six safety demonstration tests were done on the HTR-10, which manifested its inherent safety and self-stabilizing features [12]. Based on the experience of the HTR-10 project, a high temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module (HTR-PM) plant was then proposed, which consists of two pebblebed one-zone MHTGRs with combined 2 × 250 MW th power and adopts the operation scheme of two NSSS modules driving one steam turbine [13,14]. Figure 1 shows that a NSSS module of the HTR-PM plant is composed of an MHTGR, a helically coiled once-through steam generator (OTSG), a primary helium blower, and some connecting pipes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic Modeling and Control Characteristics of the Two-Modular HTR-PM Nuclear Plant

Dong

Pan

Song

et al. 2017

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations

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The modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR) is a typical small modular reactor (SMR) with inherent safety feature. Due to its high reactor outlet coolant temperature, the MHTGR can be applied not only for electricity production but also as a heat source for industrial complexes. Through multimodular scheme, that is, the superheated steam flows produced by multiple MHTGR-based nuclear supplying system (NSSS) modules combined together to drive a common thermal load, the inherent safety feature of MHTGR is applicable to large-scale nuclear plants at any desired power ratings. Since the plant power control technique of traditional single-modular nuclear plants cannot be directly applied to the multimodular plants, it is necessary to develop the power control method of multimodular plants, where dynamical modeling, control design, and performance verification are three main aspects of developing plant control method. In this paper, the study in the power control for two-modular HTR-PM plant is summarized, and the verification results based on numerical simulation are given. The simulation results in the cases of plant power step and ramp show that the plant control characteristics are satisfactory.

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Economic potential of modular reactor nuclear power plants based on the Chinese HTR-PM project

Cited by 140 publications

References 2 publications

Expert assessments of the cost of light water small modular reactors

Expert assessments of the cost of light water small modular reactors

Output Feedback Dissipation Control for the Power-Level of Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors

Dynamic Modeling and Control Characteristics of the Two-Modular HTR-PM Nuclear Plant

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