Small, Med Sized Nuclear Reactor Designs - Design Feats, Safety Approaches (IAEA TECDOC-1451)

221 Pages·2005·5.054 MB·English

IAEA-TECDOC-1451
Innovative small and medium sized
reactors: Design features, safety
approaches and R&D trends
Final report of a technical meeting
held in Vienna, 7–11 June 2004
May 2005
IAEA-TECDOC-1451
Innovative small and medium sized
reactors: Design features, safety
approaches and R&D trends
Final report of a technical meeting
held in Vienna, 7–11 June 2004
May 2005
The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was:
Nuclear Power Technology Development Section
International Atomic Energy Agency
Wagramer Strasse 5
P.O. Box 100
A-1400 Vienna, Austria

INNOVATIVE SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED REACTORS: DESIGN
FEATURES, SAFETY APPRO ACHES
AND R&D TRENDS
IAEA, VIENNA, 2005
IAEA-TECDOC-1451
ISBN 92–0–103205–6
ISSN 1011–4289
© IAEA, 2005
Printed by the IAEA in Austria
May 2005
FOREWORD

There is a renewed interest in Member States in the development and application of small and
medium sized reactors (SMRs). These reactors are most suitable for deployment in the
developing countries with low electrical grid capacity and in countries with low electricity
demand projections. SMRs are also the preferred option for non-electrical applications of
nuclear energy such as desalination of seawater, district heating, hydrogen production and
other process heat applications. In the past, the trend in nuclear power reactor technology
development showed an emphasis towards large reactors due to the economies of scale, which
produced reactor designs on to 1600 MWe. A development of SMRs points into the opposite
direction, i.e. towards smaller outputs with an equivalent electrical power of less than 700
MWe.

In order to beat the economy of scale SMRs have to incorporate specific design features that
result into simplification of the overall plant design, modularization and mass production.
Several approaches are being under development and consideration, including the increased
use of passive features for reactivity control and reactor shut down, decay heat removal and
core cooling, and reliance on the increased margin to fuel failure achieved through the use of
advanced high-temperature fuel forms and structural materials. Some SMRs also offer the
possibility of very long core lifetimes with burnable absorbers or high conversion ratio in the
core. These reactors incorporate increased proliferation resistance and may offer a very
attractive solution for the implementation of adequate safeguards in a scenario of global
deployment of nuclear power.

The activities on design and technology development for SMRs are ongoing in many
countries, and there are growing expectations of an increased support from the IAEA to
interested Member States in the definition of common technology and infrastructure
development needs and in the coordination of selected international R&D efforts for such
reactors. Reflecting on this demand, on 7-11 June 2004 the IAEA convened a Technical
Meeting on Innovative Small and Medium Sized Reactors: Design Features, Safety
Approaches and R&D Trends, which was attended by 15 experts from 12 Member States. The
presentations and discussions at the meeting addressed about 30 concepts and designs of
innovative SMRs and several options for the innovative nuclear energy systems on their basis.

This publication has been prepared through the collaboration of all participants of this
meeting and presents its final report, which summarizes the major features and identifies the
technology and infrastructure development needs common to certain groups of the SMR
concepts and designs considered at the meeting.

The IAEA appreciates the support of all participants and authors who provided inputs and
assisted in the preparation of this TECDOC. Especially appreciated is the contribution of D.C.
Wade (United States of America) who was a chairman of this meeting.

The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was V. Kuznetsov of the Division of
Nuclear Power.
EDITORIAL NOTE
This publication has been prepared from the original material as submitted by the authors. The views
expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the IAEA, the governments of the nominating Member
States or the nominating organizations.
The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the
publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and
institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries.
The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does
not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement
or recommendation on the part of the IAEA.
The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce,
translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................1
2. THE SCOPE OF INNOVATIVE SMR DESIGNS.............................................................2
3. CROSS-CUTS OF SMR DESIGNS....................................................................................3
3.1. Timeline of readiness for deployment...........................................................................3
3.2. Design and regulatory status of SMRs..........................................................................4
3.3. Evolution of designs since the last IAEA status report on SMRs.................................4
3.4. Cross-cut of SMR applications.....................................................................................7
3.5. Cross-cut of SMR special features................................................................................8
4. MAJOR FINDINGS...........................................................................................................10
4.1. Diversity of approach, missions, and time frames......................................................10
4.2. Innovative approaches to safety..................................................................................19
4.3. Infrequent refuelling option........................................................................................20
4.4. Arrangements of the overall nuclear architecture.......................................................21
4.5. Fuel cycle options........................................................................................................21
4.6. Application potential...................................................................................................21
5. IDENTIFICATION OF COMMON TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
FOR SMRs.........................................................................................................................22
6. IDENTIFICATION OF COMMON INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES................................26
7. REVIEW OF PASSIVE SAFETY DESIGN OPTIONS FOR SMRs................................28
8. DEFINITION OF SMALL REACTORS WITHOUT ON-SITE REFUELLING.............30
9. CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................31
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................35
ANNEXES 1–13
Annex 1: Main research and development activities for SMRs in Argentina..........................39
D. Delmastro, D. Brasnarof
Annex 2: Design and safety of IRIS, an integral water cooled SMR for
near term deployment.........................................................................................................51
M.D. Carelli, L.E. Conway, C.L. Kling, L. Oriani, B. Petrović, C.V. Lombardi,
M.E. Ricotti, A.C.O. Barroso, J.M. Collado, L.Cinotti, N.E. Todreas, D. Grgić,
R.D. Boroughs, H. Ninokata, F. Oriolo
Annex 3: SCOR: Simple compact reactor — An innovative medium sized PWR..................75
G.-M. Gautier, C. De Masi
Annex 4: Nuclear desalination technology development using SMART................................89
Jong-Keun Hwang, Doo-Jeong Lee, Si-Hwan Kim
Annex 5: Preliminary fuel cost evaluation for CAREM operation without
on-site refuelling................................................................................................................97
D. Delmastro, P. Florido, J. Bergallo
Annex 6: Russian concepts of nuclear power plants with
small reactors without on-site refuelling..........................................................................103
V.I. Vasyukov, K.B. Veshnyakov, E.V. Goryunov, Yu.K. Panov, V.I. Polunichev
Annex 7: Overview of RRC KI proposals for nuclear energy systems with
small and medium sized reactors.....................................................................................125
E. Ivanov
Annex 8: Small PWRs with coated particle fuel for district heating.....................................135
Y. Shimazu, M. Nagai
Annex 9: Passive safety features of Indian innovative nuclear reactors................................143
N.K. Maheshwari, P.K. Vijayan, D. Saha, R.K. Sinha
Annex 10: Small modular lead-bismuth cooled fast reactor for
multi-purpose use: SVBR-75/100....................................................................................159
G.I. Toshinsky, A.V. Zrodnikov, V.I. Chitaykin, O.G. Grigoriev, U.G. Dragunov,
V.S. Stepanov, N.N. Klimov, I.I. Kopytov, V.N. Krushelnitsky, A.A. Grudakov
Annex 11: The STAR concept: A hierarchical hub-spoke nuclear architecture based on
long refuelling interval battery reactors and regional fuel cycle centers.........................171
D.C. Wade
Annex 12: Fixed bed nuclear reactor concept........................................................................193
F. Sefidvash
Annex 13: Application of “CANDLE” burnup to LBE cooled fast reactor...........................203
H. Sekimoto
CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW...........................................................213
1. INTRODUCTION
A development of small and medium sized reactors (SMRs)1 is supported by the following
major arguments:

• The principal drivers behind the projected large increase in global energy needs are
population growth and economic development in today’s developing countries [1],
which often have insufficient infrastructure and small electricity grids. The reactor
fitting into a SMR range may be a good choice to meet the demand of such countries;
• Many developing countries have limited investment capability, especially as comes to
funds in hard currency. In this context, SMRs may become the only affordable nuclear
power option for such countries;
• In industrialized countries, the electricity market deregulation is calling for a
flexibility of power generation and applications that smaller reactors may offer. In
particular, the SMRs of modular design provide for an incremental capacity increase,
which makes it possible to spread the investments in time and to reduce the associated
financial risk;
• SMRs are of particular interest for both near-term, e.g. seawater desalination, and
advanced future non-electrical applications, such as hydrogen production, coal
liquefaction, and other process heat applications;
• New technologies cannot be deployed at once to a large scale. Learning from a small
prototype plant may be necessary to reach the final goal of their wide-scale
deployment.

About 50 concepts and designs of the innovative SMRs are under development in more than
15 IAEA Member States representing both industrialized and developing countries. SMRs are
under development for all principle reactor lines, i.e., water cooled, liquid metal cooled, gas
cooled, and molten salt cooled reactors, as well as for some non-conventional combinations
thereof.

Upon a diversity of the conceptual and design approaches to SMRs, it may be useful to
identify the so-called enabling technologies that are common to certain reactor types or lines.
An enabling technology is the technology that needs to be developed and demonstrated to
make a certain reactor concept viable. When a certain technology is common to several SMR
concepts or designs, it could benefit from being developed on a common or shared basis. The
identification of common enabling technologies could speed up the development and
deployment of many SMRs by merging the efforts of their designers through an increased
international cooperation.

Identification of the enabling technologies for SMRs may also facilitate a link to the national
or international technology development for nuclear reactors beyond the SMR range. In turn,
this will contribute to a dialogue between the major nuclear vendors and the potential national
or regional users, which may help define how the developments of a few industrialized
countries could be later on adjusted to the specific needs of developing countries or regions.

1 According to the classification adopted by the IAEA, ‘small reactor’ is a reactor with the equivalent
electric power less than 300 MW, ‘medium sized reactor’ is a reactor with the equivalent electric
power between 300 and 700 MW.

1
Apart from an option to benefit from technology development on a common basis, there are
several trends of infrastructure development that may be of benefit for the deployment of
many SMRs. Some targeted infrastructure changes, such as an introduction of technology-
neutral safety requirements, may be of benefit to all innovative reactors, independent of their
size. Other infrastructure developments, such as reestablishment of a practice of licensing by
the prototype demonstration, could be of special value namely to SMRs.

Upon the advice and with the support of its Member States, the IAEA provides a forum for
the exchange of information by experts and policy makers from industrialized and developing
countries on the technical, economic, environmental, and infrastructure aspects of the SMR
development and deployment in the 21st century [1,2]. On 7-11 June 2004 the IAEA convened
a Technical Meeting on Innovative Small and Medium Sized Reactors: Design Features,
Safety Approaches and R&D Trends, which had the following main objectives:

(1) To provide a forum for the exchange of information on the state-of-the-art in the
development, design and demonstration of innovative2 small and medium sized reactors
(SMRs) with a focus on:

• Innovative approaches pursued to facilitate the solutions for one or several issues
accepted as critical for further deployment of nuclear power;
• The enabling technologies and infrastructure development needs for SMRs;
• The application potential of SMRs, including a variety of possible non-electrical
applications and special features of the SMR plants, such as modularity,
transportability, lifetime core operation and factory fabrication and fuelling;
• New approaches to the implementation of inherent safety features and passive safety
systems;
• Small reactors without on-site refuelling;

(2) To support the preparation of an IAEA report on the status of innovative SMR designs and
other SMR-related activities by the IAEA, such as a report on small reactors without on-site
refuelling and a report on the review of passive safety design options for SMRs.

This TECDOC presents a variety of innovative water cooled, gas cooled, liquid metal cooled
and non-conventional SMR designs developed worldwide and examines the technology and
infrastructure development needs that may be common to several concepts or lines of such
reactors. The TECDOC also gives an updated definition of small reactors without on-site
refuelling and provides a preliminary review of the passive safety design options for SMRs.
2. THE SCOPE OF INNOVATIVE SMR DESIGNS
Fifteen experts nominated by the IAEA Member States: Argentina, Brazil, China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, France, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, the Russian Federation, the
United Kingdom, and the United States of America attended the meeting, submitted papers
and delivered the presentations covering about 30 designs of innovative SMRs, including:

2 Ref. [3] defines an innovative design as the design “that incorporates radical conceptual changes in design
approaches or system configuration in comparison with existing practice” and would, therefore, “require
substantial R&D, feasibility tests and a prototype or demonstration plant to be implemented”.

2
• Integral type pressurized water reactors targeted for near term deployment: SMART
(the Republic of Korea), IRIS (the International Consortium, led by Westinghouse,
USA), CAREM (Argentina), and SCOR (AREVA-CEA, France);
• Small pressurized water reactors without on-site refuelling from Russia: SAKHA-92,
ABV-3, ABV-6, KLT-40S (with lifetime core), VBER, RIT (all from OKBM),
RUTA-70, UNITHERM, NIKA-70 (from RDIPE), in particular, designed for floating
NPPs;
• Direct conversion small light water reactor without on-site refuelling ELENA (RRC
“Kurchatov Institute”, Russia);
• Light water cooled heavy water moderated pressure tube reactor AHWR (BARC,
India);
• Light water reactors using coated particle or pebble bed type fuel: PFPWR50
(University of Hokkaido, Japan), VKR-MT (VNIIAM-RRC “Kurchatov Institute”,
Russia), FBNR (Federal University of Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil);
• Innovative high temperature gas cooled reactors: PBMR-400 (ESCOM, South Africa),
HTR-PM (INET, China), HTR-F/VHTR (AREVA-CEA, France);
• Lead-bismuth cooled small reactor without on-site refuelling SVBR-75/100, targeted
for near-term deployment (IPPE and EDO “Gidropress”, Russia);
• Innovative lead or lead-bismuth cooled small reactors without on-site refuelling:
STAR-LM, STAR-H2, SSTAR (“STAR family”, ANL, USA), SPINNOR and
VSPINNOR (ITB, Indonesia);
• Lead-bismuth cooled compact high temperature reactor CHTR, with HTGR type fuel
(BARC, India);
• Molten salt cooled small reactor with pebble-bed fuel MARS (RRC “Kurchatov
Institute”, Russia);
• CANDLE burn-up concept for small high temperature gas cooled reactors and for
small reactors with fast neutron spectrum (RLNR TITech, Japan).
3. CROSS-CUTS OF SMR DESIGNS
3.1. Timeline of readiness for deployment
Figure 1 gives a projection for the timelines when the demonstration prototypes of certain
SMRs could be deployed. This projection is based on the designers’ evaluation of the time
needed to carry out necessary R&D and to pass the required design certification and licensing
procedures, all under favourable conditions of financing. No consideration of the unequal
starting conditions and, therefore, varying prospects for the attraction of investments was
made. Some SMRs implement more radical innovations, and an essential modification of the
existing regulations may be needed for them ever to get licensed. The projection of Fig. 1
makes no account of the time needed to develop and enforce a new set of regulations, which
may be a more complicated and lengthy process than the technology development itself.
The data in Fig. 1 are exclusive responsibility of the designers of their respective SMRs. The
IAEA secretariat has introduced no corrections or adjustments to these data. As an example,
the authors of a fixed bed nuclear reactor (FBNR, Brazil) claim their design to be simple and
thoroughly based on the existing PWR technology, which they view as a decisive factor in
making it suitable for a near term deployment. However, the discussion at the meeting
3