GEN III+ NUCLEAR REACTORS - VALUE THE DIFFERENCE
Applicable for Australian Deployment - Gen-III+
Gen III+ reactor designs are an evolutionary development of Gen III reactors, offering improvements in safety over Gen III reactor designs. Manufacturers began development of Gen III+ systems in the 1990s by building on the operating experience of the Russian, American, Japanese, Chinese and Western European Reactors. Generation III+ reactors incorporate extra safety features to avoid the kind of disaster suffered at Fukushima in 2011. Generation III+ designs, passive safety, also known as passive cooling, requires no sustained operator action or electronic feedback to shut down the plant safely in the event of an emergency.
Some of the Generation III+ nuclear reactors have a core catcher. If the fuel cladding and reactor vessel systems and associated piping become molten, corium will fall into a core catcher which holds the molten material and has the ability to cool it. This, in turn protects the final barrier, the containment building. As an example, Rosatom installed a 200-tonne core catcher in the VVER reactor as the first large piece of equipment in the reactor building of Rooppur 1, describing it as "a unique protection system".
On 5 August 2016, a Generation III+ VVER-1200/392M reactor became operational (first grid connection) at Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant II in Russia, which was the first operational Generation III+ Reactor. Several other Generation III+ Reactors have been constructed in China. They were the French Designed AREVA Gen-III+ EPR Reactor, that came online at the Taishan Nuclear Power Station (first grid connection on 2018-06-29) and the Westinghouse Designed Gen-III+ AP1000 reactor at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Station (first grid connection on 2018-06-30) in China.
VVER reactors developed by Rosatom are among the world's most widely used reactors
Russian VVER Nuclear Reactors have proved their high reliability over more than 1500 reactor-years of operation. Since the commissioning of the first VVER power unit in 1960s the technology has been providing safe and affordable electricity throughout the world: from Armenian mountains to the countryside of the Czech Republic, above the Arctic Circle and at the southern tip of India. The current Gen-III+ VVER-1200 design takes into account current IAEA safety standard and so-called post-Fukushima safety requirements ensuring all safety aspects consideration. Safety systems built within the reactor take other outside factors and natural phenomena into consideration, such as earthquakes, floods, storm winds, hurricanes, snowfalls, tornadoes, low and high extremes of temperature, as well as such man induced events as aircraft crash, air shock waves, and flooding caused by water pipe breaks, ultimately ensuring stable operation during crises.
As of July 2024, a total of 23 Gen-III+ VVER-1200 reactors were under construction outside of Russia in Bangladesh (2), China (4), Egypt (4), India (4), Iran (4), Slovakia (1), and Turkey (4). Rosatom has agreements in place with Hungary and India for the construction of further reactors, and is in discussion with other countries.
Westinghouse Designed Gen-III+ AP1000 Nuclear Reactor
Westinghouse Welcomes Approval of Four New Gen-III+ AP1000 Technology-based Reactors in China. New Units at Bailong and Lufeng Bring Total Number of Operational and Approved China Gen-III+ AP1000-Based Reactors to 16. The Westinghouse Gen-III+ AP1000 technology continues to be recognized for its record-breaking operational and availability performance through successful deployments in China and the U.S. Utilities are clearly seeing the value of the AP1000 platform and are making it a part of their long-term investments to provide safe, clean and reliable base-load electricity. With these new approvals and their delivery schedule, there will be 18 units based on Gen-III+ AP1000 technology in operation globally by the end of the decade.
The Westinghouse Gen-III+ AP1000 reactor is the only operating Generation III+ reactor with fully passive safety systems, modular construction design and the smallest footprint per MWe on the market. In addition to the six Gen-III+ AP1000 reactors currently setting operational performance and availability records in China with eight additional reactors under construction. There are four Gen-III+ AP1000 Nuclear Reactors in operation at two sites in China, two at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Station and two at the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant. Furthermore, two Gen-III+ AP1000 units are operating at the Vogtle site in Georgia USA. The AP1000 technology has been selected for the nuclear energy programs in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria, and is also under consideration at multiple other sites in Central and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, India, and North America.
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Designed Gen-III+ APR1400 Nuclear Reactor
The APR1400 is a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and each unit produces up to 1,400 Megawatts of electricity. The reactors have an operational life-span of 60 years, pending regulatory approval. This advanced reactor is based on the System 80+ design, which was certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the United States of America. As a Generation III+ Nuclear Reactor, the APR1400 safety system is designed to prevent or mitigate severe accidents. The design incorporates passive safety systems, which work to ensure safe reactor shutdown, removal of decay heat, and the prevention of radioactive releases. Currently there are eight Gen-III+ APR1400 Nuclear Reactors in operation in South Korea with four units under construction. Futhermore, there are four Gen-III+ APR1400 Nuclear Reactors on operation in the United Arab Emirates. The four UAE's reactors have been adapted from the original design to suit the country's unique climate and specific requirements of the UAE nuclear safety regulator, the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR). With these new approvals and their delivery schedule, there will be 16 Gen-III+ APR1400 Nuclear Reactors in operation globally by the end of the decade.
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