A Global Review of PWR Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract

<jats:p>Nuclear energy is presented as a real option in the face of the current problem of climate change and the need to reduce CO2 emissions. The nuclear reactor design with the greatest global impact throughout history and which has the most ambitious development plans is the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). Thus, a global review of such a reactor design is presented in this paper, utilizing the analysis of (i) technical aspects of the different variants of the PWR design implemented over the past eight years, (ii) the level of implementation of PWR nuclear power plants in the world, and (iii) a life extension scenario and future trends in PWR design based on current research and development (R&amp;D) activity. To develop the second analysis, a statistical study of the implementation of the different PWR variants has been carried out. Such a statistical analysis is based on the operating factor, which represents the relative frequency of reactors operating around the world. The results reflect the hegemony of the western variants in the 300 reactors currently operating, highlighting the North American and French versions. Furthermore, a simulation of a possible scenario of increasing the useful life of operational PWRs up to 60 years has been proposed, seeing that in 2050 the generation capacity of nuclear PWRs power plants will decrease by 50%, and the number of operating reactors by 70%.</jats:p>

Generic Feasibility Assessment: Helping to Choose the Nuclear Piece of the Net Zero Jigsaw

“…One main reason for the sub-optimal performance of the nuclear sector in the UK is that almost all of the plants built have been of unique design, built by different consortia (in pursuit of competition) [5], and with little evidence of series development and installation. This contrasts with, for example, the French energy policy over the same period, which committed to a PWR system [6] and thus reaped the benefits yielded by series-build. Only two examples of UK nuclear systems were ever exported, and both were the early Magnox designs [7]: Latina in Italy, which generated from 1963 until 1987; and Tokai Mura, from 1965 until 1998 in Japan.…”

Carbon-Based Nanofluids and Their Advances towards Heat Transfer Applications—A Review

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“…Technical details of different types of reactors(Bodansky, 2005; IEE, 2005;Fernández-Arias et al, 2020; U. S. Energy Information Administration, 2020; World Nuclear Association, 2021; Britiannica; Institute for Energy and Environmental Research). Examples of Renewable energy sources and nuclear in hybrid energy systems(Ruth et al, 2014).…”