Module layout optimization using a genetic algorithm in light water modular nuclear reactor power plants

Abstract

The Small Modular Reactor (SMR) concept has been proposed to solve some of the construction problems of large reactors. SMRs are designed to be "shop fabricated and then transported as modules to the sites for installation". As a consequence they theoretically have shorter build schedules and require less capital investment (Locatelli et al., 2014). A literature review has highlighted a lot of work has been undertaken in the research and development of different types of reactors and reactor modules but the design of balance of plant modules has not been extensively researched (Wrigley et al., 2018). The focus of this paper will be on a case study for balance of plant modules in a light water reactor. Wrigley et al., (2018) highlighted two methods of modularization for balance of plant modules in nuclear reactors to support modularization for SMRs. If the modules are to be designed for factory build and transport in a standardized grid approach, a design method needs to be developed to help achieve this approach. To enable this, we propose a three step method: how to group components into modules, how to layout the modules and how to arrange components inside the modules. The Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant was chosen for its publically available data. A previous study on this plant used matrix reordering techniques to group components and heuristically assign them to large modules, highlighting a potential capital cost savings of 15%. A method of assigning components to modules could be developed in future studies, but this was not the focus of this paper. We therefore use the same allocation of components and modules as the previous study but tackle how balance of plant modules

Factory Manufactured Modular Construction of Process Plants

“…A method to utilize layout optimisation to analyse concepts of off site modular factory manufactured process plants was proposed [28]. Automated design techniques were highlighted [29] and a method to arrange modules in a process plant developed [30]. Layout optimisation models have been applied for optimising construction, safety, operational costs [31] in the industrial process plant research.…”