Small modular reactors: Simpler, safer, cheaper?

Vujic, J.; Bergmann, R.M.; Škoda, Radek; Miletić, Marija

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2012.01.078

Cited by 216 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…These small reactors are believed to fill a gap in the energy market as they may be constructed in a short time, can work on less developed energy grids and do not require the considerable upfront capital costs associated with currently operated large NPPs (nuclear power plants) that make purchasing them economically challenging for most countries [103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116]. Small modular reactors caused a similar euphoria in the 1960s and again in the 1980s that did not materialize due to the smaller reactors overall less favorable economic performance when compared to large (>1000 MWe) nuclear power plants (NPPs) [117,118] or other energy generating technology.…”

Section: Identified Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

et al. 2018

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A number of primary ores such as phosphate rock, gold-, copper-and rare earth ores contain considerable amounts of accompanying uranium and other critical materials. Energy neutral mineral processing is the extraction of unconventional uranium during primary ore processing to use it, after enrichment and fuel production, to generate greenhouse gas lean energy in a nuclear reactor. Energy neutrality is reached if the energy produced from the extracted uranium is equal to or larger than the energy required for primary ore processing, uranium extraction, -conversion, -enrichment and -fuel production. This work discusses the sustainability of energy neutral mineral processing and provides an overview of the current progress of a multinational research project on that topic conducted under the umbrella of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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Section: Identified Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

et al. 2018

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“…Small modular reactors (SMRs) are those nuclear fission reactors whose electrical output power is less than 300 MW e [4][5][6]. Due to the low power density and large heat capacity, some SMRs even have the inherent safety feature which prevents SMRs from the hazards of core-melting, radiological release, and LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident).…”

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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“…The secondary coolant is injected to the secondary side of the OTSGs or OTHXs and is changed to be the satisfactory working fluid for driving different thermal loads such as a steam turbine. Actually, OTHSS are very common in practical engineering such as the integral pressurized water reactors (iPWR, e.g., Nuscale, IRIS and mPower) with internal OTSGs [3][4][5][6], modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR, e.g., HTR-Module [7][8][9], MHTGR [10] and HTR-PM [11][12][13]) with side-by-side arranged OTSGs, concentrating solar power (CSP) plants with OTSGs [14] or OTHXs [15] and even coal-fired once-through boilers. A thermally interconnected distributed energy system is called a hybrid energy system (HES) [16][17][18] if the heat sources of OTHSS modules are of different types, otherwise it is called a multimodular energy system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and Control of Fluid Flow Networks with Application to a Nuclear-Solar Hybrid Plant

et al. 2017

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Fluid flow networks (FFNs) can be utilized to integrate multiple once-through heat supply system (OTHSS) modules based on either the same or different energy resources such as the renewable, nuclear and fossil for multi-modular and hybrid energy systems. Modeling and control is very important for the safe, stable and efficient operation of the FFNs, whose objective is to maintain both the flowrates and pressure-drops of the network branches within specific bounds. In this paper, a differential-algebraic nonlinear dynamic model for general FFNs with multiple pump branches is proposed based on both the branch hydraulics and network graph properties. Then, an adaptive decentralized FFN flowrate-pressure control law, which takes a proportional-integral (PI) form with saturation on the integral terms, is established. This newly-built control not only guarantees satisfactory closed-loop global stability but also has no need for the values of network hydraulic parameters. This adaptive control is then applied to the flowrate-pressure regulation of the secondary FFN of a two-modular nuclear-solar hybrid energy system and numerical simulation results show the feasibility and high performance of this network control strategy. Due to its concise form, this new flowrate-pressure FFN controller can be easily implemented practically.

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Small modular reactors: Simpler, safer, cheaper?

Cited by 216 publications

References 6 publications

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

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

Modeling and Control of Fluid Flow Networks with Application to a Nuclear-Solar Hybrid Plant

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