Safeguards Challenges for Pebble-Bed Reactors (PBRs):Peoples Republic of China (PRC) Page: 27 of 40
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3.3 PLANT DESIGN FOR THE PRC PEBBLE-BED REACTOR
The design of the PRC PBR plant (Zhang 2007) differs radically from any existing commercial reactor.
All existing commercial reactors have a single reactor connected to a power conversion system such as a
steam turbine and electrical generator. In a few cases where the reactor is very large and no matching
steam turbine could be built, multiple turbines are connected to a single reactor. The PRC PBR developers
propose a different approach. Multiple reactors in a single plant will be connected to a single steam
turbine and electric generator. The reactors are modular to reap the safety advantages of the modular
reactor size and the economies of mass production for manufacturing the nuclear system. All other
components of the plant (steam turbine, generator, cooling towers, auxiliary systems, refueling systems)
are common to all the reactors in the plant. This has potentially major implications.
" Flexible unit size. With this approach, once two reactor modules working together have been
demonstrated, reactor plants of any size can be produced simply by changing the number of reactor
modules per plant but not the reactor design. PRC proposes up to 19 double-module units per plant.
" Balance-of-plant components. The concept takes advantage of economies of scale in all nonreactor
power plant components such as steam turbines, generators, cooling towers, and fuel handling
systems.
" Compatibility with fossil power plant components. The PBR modular reactors are being designed to
produce high-temperature, high-pressure steam that matches that from the more efficient fossil power
plants (Zhang et al. 2006). This enables the large-scale manufacturing infrastructure associated with
fossil plants to be used for production of the balance-of-plant components such as steam turbines. In
contrast, existing LWRs produce steam at temperatures and pressures significantly lower than those
found in traditional fossil plants and thus must have steam turbines specifically designed to match the
nuclear reactor.
" Nuclear reactor mass production. The nuclear reactor design is chosen for simplified manufacture
with gains in manufacturing economy.
Associated with this decision was a major effort to simplify the reactor module to the maximum degree
possible. A decision in August 2006 took the reactor module from the originally envisioned 458 MW(t) to
250 MW(t). Cost estimates indicated less than a 5% difference in the cost per kilowatt-electric capacity
between building a single 458 MW(t) reactor and two 250 MW(t) reactor modules. This design change
greatly reduced the complexity of the reactor module for a variety of technical reasons and substantially
lowers the technical risk. The major simplification is a cylindrical core rather than the more complex
annular core required with the larger power output. Table 2 summarizes the differences between these two
designs. PRC is building the 2 x 250 MW(t) plant with an electrical output of 200 MW(e). Figure 6 shows
the reactor layout of the 2 x 250 MW(t) plant.
PRC's development and deployment strategy for their PBR is highly innovative and takes full advantage
of unique PRC strengths-(1) the world's largest internal market, sufficient in size to support economical
mass production of the nuclear components and (2) the world's largest manufacturing capability to
produce balance-of-plant components of systems found in fossil-fired plants. Some perspective of this
extraordinary manufacturing capacity can be obtained by examining the country's current rate of electric
power plant construction. PRC is building the equivalent of two 500-MW(e) coal-fired power stations per
week and a capacity equivalent to the entire United Kingdom power grid each year (MIT 2007). If PRC is
successful in creating an economical modular reactor with enhanced safety, such a radical change in
nuclear technology could make PRC the world leader in the sale of commercial nuclear reactors to other
countries. It will be a decade or longer before it is known if the strategy is successful.11
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Forsberg, Charles W. & Moses, David Lewis. Safeguards Challenges for Pebble-Bed Reactors (PBRs):Peoples Republic of China (PRC), report, November 1, 2009; [Tennessee]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc935246/m1/27/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.