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SMR REACTORS .
Rolls-Royce QUOTED
because so few new nuclear power stations are built, there are very few opportunities to learn from mistakes.So, Rolls-Royce and its partners are saying: let's make them smaller and make lots of them so that we get really good at it.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are defined as nuclear reactors generally 300 MWe equivalent or less, designed with modular technology using module factory fabrication, pursuing economies of series production and short construction times.
Reactor owners can be tempted to lower costs by
cutting corners. The challenge is to reduce cost without compromising safety and security. Given that the
Fukushima Daiichi accident review has already resulted
in new safety requirements for both operating and
new reactors, some of which may be costly.
SMRs are regarded as a way
to expand nuclear energy by introducing it into new
markets, such as small utilities that cannot afford the
huge price tag of conventionally sized nuclear plants
For any plant, large or small, a key factor that
determines the level of safety is the most severe accident that the plant is designed to withstand without
exceeding certain radiological release limits-a hypothetical event known as the maximum “design-basis”
: no design can shut itself
down and cool itself in every circumstance without
the need for intervention. Even passively safe reactors require some equipment, such as valves, that are
designed to operate automatically. But no valve is
100 percent reliable
Fukushima Daiichi. The close
coupling of the reactor vessel and containment characteristic of its Mark I boiling water reactors resulted
in overpressurization of the containments at Units 1, 2,
and 3, which made it difficult to inject emergency
cooling water into the reactor vessels.
27 окт 2021