NuScale Power has created a new kind of nuclear power plant - a smaller, scalable version of pressurized water reactor technology with natural safety features, such as safely and indefinitely shutting down with no operator action, AC power, DC power, or external water.. Natural forces of physics, such as gravity, convection, and conduction, are used for normal operations and safe shutdown. This eliminates many of the large and complex systems (e.g., pumps, motors, valves, piping) found in today’s nuclear power plants and other SMR designs. As a result, our plant is safer, simpler, and less expensive to build and operate. Each NuScale SMR generates >45 MWe of electrical power, and modules can be incrementally added (i.e., up to 12 modules) as electricity demand grows to deliver a total plant output of at least 540 MWe.
Safe
The NuScale Power Module incorporates a comprehensive set of engineered safety features, including a natural circulation cooling system and seven layers of defense between the nuclear fuel and local community and environment (vs. three in existing nuclear power plants). The NuScale Power Module can safely shut down and remain so indefinitely with no AC power, DC power, or external water.
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Simple
The NuScale Power Module design is comprised of the reactor vessel and containment vessel in a single cylindrical module. The NuScale Power Module has no reactor coolant pumps, no external steam generator vessels, and no large-bore reactor coolant piping. This translates into lower cost to fabricate, install, operate, maintain and decommission, thereby reducing the life-cycle cost to produce energy while lowering operational risk.
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Small
The small module size (i.e., 80 feet in length; 15’ diameter; total weight of approximately 650 tons) permits component shipment via conventional power plant construction transport means (truck, rail, and barge). Its small site footprint of 44 acres for a 540 MWe installation of 12 modules will support a reduced Emergency Planning Zone based on small core size and use of the mechanistic source term methodology.
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Economical
The NuScale Power Module’s cost per kWh is competitive with other sources of base load electricity generation, and less than the cost per kWh of large nuclear units. An installation with multiple NuScale Power Modules can generate income much earlier than larger installations since the first module can begin generating power three years after start of safety-related construction. When the time comes to decommission module, there are fewer components to dismantle and dispose. This equates to a lower decommissioning cost.
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Secure
NuScale incorporates the security-by-design philosophy by incorporating security requirements (detection, deterrence, and delay) into the early design phase. The NuScale power plant design houses the NuScale Power Module in a low-profile aircraft-resistant, seismic Category 1 building. The NuScale Power Modules themselves are located below grade in a common pool. Each power module resides in its own operating bay with a biological barrier covering each bay. The pool provides seismic dampening and radiation shielding of the NuScale Power Module and its nuclear fuel.
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