A Preassembled Nuclear Reactor
A new modular design could make building nuclear reactors faster and cheaper.
A new type of nuclear reactor that is designed to be manufactured in a factory rather than built at a power plant could cut construction times for nuclear power plants almost in half and make them cheaper to build. That, in turn, could make it possible for more utilities to build nuclear power plants, especially those in poor countries. The design comes from Babcock and Wilcox, a company based in Lynchburg, VA, that has made nuclear reactors for the United States Navy ships for about 50 years.
Features of the B&W mPower reactor include:
- Integral nuclear system design
- Passive safety systems
- Underground containment
- Five-year operating cycle between refueling
- Scalable, modular design is flexible for local needs
- Multi-unit (1 to 10+) plant
- Used fuel stored in spent fuel pool for life of the reactor (60 years)
- North American shop-manufactured
clipped from www.babcock.com
