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AP600
The AP600 is a model of relatively small, 600 MWe nuclear power plant designed by Westinghouse Electric Company. The AP600 has passive safety features characteristic of the Generation III reactor concept. The projected core damage frequency is nearly 1000 times less than today's Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requirements, on par with plants currently being considered for construction. The design has been scaled up and improved with the AP1000. Certification testing and analysis of the AP600 and AP1000 reactor designs for Westinghouse were conducted at the APEX facility at Oregon State University. The one-quarter scale reduced pressure integral system certified the passively safe systems that cool the reactor core using gravity and natural circulation. The NRC's final design certification was received in 1999 but no orders were ever placed. A large reason Westinghouse entered development of the AP1000 was to improve the economies of scale In microeconomics, economies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AP1000
The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and improve its economics. The design traces its history to the System 80 design, which was produced in various locations around the world. Further development of the System 80 initially led to the AP600 concept, with a smaller 600 to 700 MWe output, but this saw limited interest. In order to compete with other designs that were scaling up in size in order to improve capital costs, the design re-emerged as the AP1000 and found a number of design wins at this larger size. Six AP1000s are currently in operation or under construction. Four are located at two sites in China, two at Sanmen Nuclear Power Station and two at Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant. Two are under construction at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in the US. , all four Chinese rea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation, control and design of nuclear power plants. Westinghouse's world headquarters are located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. Brookfield Business Partners, a Canadian private equity fund and a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management is the majority owner of Westinghouse. On March 24, 2017, parent company Toshiba announced that Westinghouse Electric Company would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of US$9 billion of losses from nuclear reactor construction projects. The projects responsible for this loss are mostly the construction of four AP1000 reactors at Vogtle in Georgia and the Virgil C. Summer plant in South Carolina. Westinghouse filed fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generation III Reactor
Generation III reactors, or Gen III reactors, are a class of nuclear reactors designed to succeed Generation II reactors, incorporating evolutionary improvements in design. These include improved fuel technology, higher thermal efficiency, significantly enhanced safety systems (including passive nuclear safety), and standardized designs intended to reduce maintenance and capital costs. They are promoted by the Generation IV International Forum (GIF). The first Generation III reactors to begin operation were Kashiwazaki 6 and 7 advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs) in 1996 and 1997. Since 2012, both have been shut down due to security concerns. Due to the prolonged period of stagnation in the construction of new reactors and the continued (albeit declining) popularity of Generation II/II+ designs in new construction, relatively few third generation reactors have been built. Overview The older Gen II reactors comprise the vast majority of current nuclear reactors. Gen III re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boiling Water Reactors
A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is a design different from a Soviet graphite-moderated RBMK. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR), which is also a type of light water nuclear reactor. The main difference between a BWR and PWR is that in a BWR, the reactor core heats water, which turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine. In a PWR, the reactor core heats water, which does not boil. This hot water then exchanges heat with a lower pressure system, which turns water into steam that drives the turbine. The BWR was developed by the Argonne National Laboratory and General Electric (GE) in the mid-1950s. The main present manufacturer is GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, which specializes in the design and construction of this type of reactor. Overview A boiling water reactor uses demineralized water as a coolant and n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Power Plant
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generator that produces electricity. , the International Atomic Energy Agency reported there were 422 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world, and 57 nuclear power reactors under construction. Nuclear plants are very often used for base load since their operations, maintenance, and fuel costs are at the lower end of the spectrum of costs. However, building a nuclear power plant often spans five to ten years, which can accrue to significant financial costs, depending on how the initial investments are financed. Nuclear power plants have a carbon footprint comparable to that of renewable energy such as photovoltaic power station, solar farms and wind farms, and much lower than fossil fuels such as gas-fired ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passive Safety
Automotive safety is the study and practice of design, construction, equipment and regulation to minimize the occurrence and consequences of traffic collisions involving motor vehicles. Road traffic safety more broadly includes roadway design. One of the first formal academic studies into improving motor vehicle safety was by Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory of Buffalo, New York. The main conclusion of their extensive report is the crucial importance of seat belts and padded dashboards. However, the primary vector of traffic-related deaths and injuries is the disproportionate mass and velocity of an automobile compared to that of the predominant victim, the pedestrian. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 80% of cars sold in the world are not compliant with main safety standards. Only 40 countries have adopted the full set of the seven most important regulations for car safety. In the United States, a pedestrian is injured by a motor vehicle every 8 minutes, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Core Damage Frequency
Core damage frequency (CDF) is a term used in probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) that indicates the likelihood of an accident that would cause severe damage to a nuclear fuel in a nuclear reactor core. Core damage accidents are considered extremely serious because severe damage to the fuel in the core prevents adequate heat removal or even safe shutdown, which can lead to a nuclear meltdown. Some sources on CDF consider core damage and core meltdown to be the same thing, and different methods of measurement are used between industries and nations, so the primary value of the CDF number is in managing the risk of core accidents within a system and not necessarily to provide large-scale statistics. An assessment of permanent or temporary changes in a nuclear power plant is performed to evaluate if such changes are within risk criteria. For example, the probability of core damage may increase while replacing a component, but the probability would be even ''higher'' if that component ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operations on January 19, 1975, as one of two successor agencies to the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Its functions include overseeing reactor safety and security, administering reactor licensing and renewal, licensing radioactive materials, radionuclide safety, and managing the storage, security, recycling, and disposal of spent fuel. History Prior to 1975 the Atomic Energy Commission was in charge of matters regarding radionuclides. The AEC was dissolved, because it was perceived as unduly favoring the industry it was charged with regulating.John Byrne and Steven M. Hoffman (1996). ''Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk'', Transaction Publishers, p. 163. The NRC was formed as an independent commission to oversee nuclear ene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering college in the nation for 2022. Undergraduate enrollment for all colleges combined averages close to 32,000, making it the state's largest university. Out-of-state students make up over one-quarter of undergraduates and an additional 5,500 students are engaged in graduate coursework through the university. Since its founding, over 272,000 students have graduated from OSU. It is classified among "Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Chartered as a land-grant university initially, OSU became one of the four inaugural members of the Sea Grant in 1971. It joined the Space Grant and Sun Grant research consortia in 1991 and 2003, respectively, making it the first public university and one of just four in total to attain memb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economies Of Scale
In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables an increase in scale. At the basis of economies of scale, there may be technical, statistical, organizational or related factors to the degree of market control. This is just a partial description of the concept. Economies of scale apply to a variety of the organizational and business situations and at various levels, such as a production, plant or an entire enterprise. When average costs start falling as output increases, then economies of scale occur. Some economies of scale, such as capital cost of manufacturing facilities and friction loss of transportation and industrial equipment, have a physical or engineering basis. The economic concept dates back to Adam Smith and the idea of obtaining larger production returns through the use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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