DISQUS

Next Big Future: Annular fuel 50% power ultra-uprate to nuclear power - Economics versus new nuclear plants is the key issue

  • DaveMart · 1 year ago
    Brian, how does the upgrade time compare, as against doing a new build?
    In some places, especially the US, that might be critical, as considerable delays are also incurred by regulatory issues for a new build, as well as the physical time of build.
  • nextbigfuture · 1 year ago
    The actual upgrade could be done in 9-12 months but the first one is not likely to happen before 2014 as there is still development work to be done and approvals in the USA.
  • DaveMart · 1 year ago
    Very important info, Brian - in an energy crunch that upgrade could be vital.
    Shame most of our reactors in the UK, where we are really going to be in trouble before 2015, are getting old - I will have to look up what the few remaining reactors retirement dates are - I think one is not due until 2023 or so, and may be able to be patched up and upgraded, which could be vital.
  • DaveMart · 1 year ago
    Brian, further to my last, I have checked the discommissioning dates of UK reactors and came across this:

    S1_04.pdf

    It appears that the relevant reactors which might have their lives extended would be at best Hinkley B, Hunterston B, Heysham 2, Torness and Sizewell B, with the only one that we could be fairly confident that might be suitable for an annular upgrade being Sizewell, B, with the others needing life extensions too.

    The Sizewell B reactor does not seem to present any exceptional problems to the upgrade as it is a PWR with a fairly long remaining life:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizewell_B



    I am persuaded that shortly the power situation in the UK will be so desperate that authorisation for an annular upgrade would be given on the nod, and a plan to upgrade where relevant would be timely and appropriate.

    Unfortunately the other reactors with late decommissioning dates are all AGR reactors, and I would imagine that the difficulty of doing a custom upgrade would make it prohibitive, as would the relatively short remaining life.

    Any thoughts would be valuable.
  • nextbigfuture · 1 year ago
    There is another paper which discusses the analysis that an annular fuel reactor built from scratch has better returns. So the from scratch annular fuel reactors, I would expect to be made. I would expect them in China first and then several years later when the US nuclear regulatory Commission approves the new designs.
  • bartoncii · 1 year ago
    The most obvious question is will the AP-1000 be redesigned for annular fuel. Because the AP-1000 has to be built from scratch, many of the extra costs of the Ultra-fuel modification would not make a large cost difference between an AP-1000 and the AP-1800. The benefits would make the modification highly desirable. The added generating capacity in older reactors might make the modificatiion attractive as a means of lowering domestic CO2 emissions.