![ABWR Toshiba 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/ABWR_Toshiba_1.jpg)
Generation III reactors, or Gen III reactors, are a class of
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
s designed to succeed
Generation II reactors, incorporating evolutionary improvements in design. These include improved
fuel technology, higher
thermal efficiency
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc.
For a ...
, significantly enhanced safety systems (including
passive nuclear safety
Passive nuclear safety is a design approach for safety features, implemented in a nuclear reactor, that does not require any active intervention on the part of the operator or electrical/electronic feedback in order to bring the reactor to a saf ...
), 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 reactor
The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) is a Generation III boiling water reactor. The ABWR is currently offered by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Toshiba. The ABWR generates electrical power by using steam to power a turbine connected ...
s (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 reactors are so-called advanced
light-water reactor
The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron react ...
s (LWRs). Gen III+ reactors are labeled as "evolutionary designs". Though the distinction between Gen II and III reactors is arbitrary, few Gen III reactors have reached the commercial stage as of 2022. The
Generation IV International Forum calls Gen IV reactors "revolutionary designs". These are concepts for which no concrete prognoses for realization existed at the time.
The improvements in reactor technology in third generation reactors are intended to result in a longer operational life (designed for 60 years of operation, extendable to 100+ years of operation prior to complete overhaul and
reactor pressure vessel
A reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a nuclear power plant is the pressure vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core.
Classification of nuclear power reactors
Russian Soviet era RBMK reactors have each fuel ...
replacement) compared with currently used Generation II reactors (designed for 40 years of operation, extendable to 60+ years of operation prior to complete overhaul and pressure vessel replacement).
The
core damage frequencies for these reactors are designed to be lower than for Generation II reactors – 60 core damage events for the
European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) and 3 core damage events for the
Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR)
per 100 million reactor-years are significantly lower than the 1,000 core damage events per 100 million reactor-years for BWR/4 Generation II reactors.
The third generation EPR reactor was also designed to use
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
more efficiently than older Generation II reactors, using approximately 17% less per unit of electricity generated than these older reactor technologies. An independent analysis conducted by environmental scientist
Barry Brook on the greater efficiency and therefore lower material needs of Gen III reactors, corroborates this finding.
Developments
![Schemata core catcher EPR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Schemata_core_catcher_EPR.jpg)
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 American, Japanese, and Western European
light-water reactor
The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron react ...
.
The nuclear industry began to promote a
nuclear renaissance
Since about 2001 the term nuclear renaissance has been used to refer to a possible nuclear power industry revival, driven by rising fossil fuel prices and new concerns about meeting greenhouse gas emission limits.
In the 2009 ''World Energy ...
suggesting that Gen III+ designs should solve three key problems: safety, cost and buildability. Construction costs of US$1,000/kW were forecast, a level that would make nuclear competitive with gas, and construction times of four years or less were expected. However, these estimates proved over-optimistic.
A notable improvement of Gen III+ systems over second-generation designs is the incorporation in some designs of passive safety features that do not require active controls or operator intervention but instead rely on gravity or natural convection to mitigate the impact of abnormal events.
![PHWR under Construction at Kakrapar Gujarat India](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/PHWR_under_Construction_at_Kakrapar_Gujarat_India.jpg)
Generation III+ reactors incorporate extra safety features to avoid the kind of disaster suffered at
Fukushima
may refer to:
Japan
* Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture
** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
***Fukushima University, national university in Japan
*** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...
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. Many of the Generation III+ nuclear reactors have a
core catcher
A core catcher is a device provided to catch the molten core material ( corium) of a nuclear reactor in case of a nuclear meltdown and prevent it from escaping the containment building.
A core catcher is made from a special concrete ceramic to pr ...
. 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
A containment building is a reinforced steel, concrete or lead structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. It is designed, in any emergency, to contain the escape of radioactive steam or gas to a maximum pressure in the range of . The containment i ...
. As an example,
Rosatom
Rosatom, ( rus, Росатом, p=rɐsˈatəm}) also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that speciali ...
installed a 200-tonne core catcher in the
VVER
The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from russian: водо-водяной энергетический реактор; transliterates as ; ''water-water power reactor'') is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally de ...
reactor as the first large piece of equipment in the reactor building of
Rooppur 1, describing it as "a unique protection system". In 2017, Rosatom has started commercial operations of the
NVNPP-2 Unit 1
VVER-1200
The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from russian: водо-водяной энергетический реактор; transliterates as ; ''water-water power reactor'') is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally de ...
reactor in central Russia, marking the world's first full start-up of a generation III+ reactor.
First reactors
![Usina_Nuclear_em_Novovoronezh,_Rússia_01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Usina_Nuclear_em_Novovoronezh%2C_R%C3%BAssia_01.jpg)
The first Generation III reactors were built in Japan, in the form of
advanced boiling water reactor
The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) is a Generation III boiling water reactor. The ABWR is currently offered by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Toshiba. The ABWR generates electrical power by using steam to power a turbine connected ...
s. On 5 August 2016, a Generation III+
VVER-1200
The water-water energetic reactor (WWER), or VVER (from russian: водо-водяной энергетический реактор; transliterates as ; ''water-water power reactor'') is a series of pressurized water reactor designs originally de ...
/392M reactor became operational (first grid connection) at
Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant II
Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant II (NvNPPII; russian: Нововоронежская АЭС II []) is a Russian nuclear power plant with two 1200 MW pressurized water reactors (VVER) located in Voronezh Oblast. The power plant is built on the ...
in Russia, which was the first operational Generation III+ reactor.
Several other Generation III+ reactors are under late-stage construction in Europe, China, India, and the United States. The next Generation III+ reactors to come online were an
AREVA EPR reactor at the
Taishan Nuclear Power Station (first grid connection on 2018-06-29) and a Westinghouse
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 impr ...
reactor at the
Sanmen Nuclear Power Station
The Sanmen Nuclear Power Station () is a nuclear power station in Sanmen County, Zhejiang, China. Sanmen is the first implementation of the AP1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR) developed by Westinghouse Electric Company.
History
The contr ...
(first grid connection on 2018-06-30) in China.
In the United States, reactor designs are certified by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). , the commission has approved seven new designs, and is considering one design more as well as renewal of an expired certification.
Response and criticism
Proponents of nuclear power and some who have historically been critical have acknowledged that third generation reactors as a whole are safer than older reactors.
Edwin Lyman
Edwin S. Lyman is a physicist and the Director of Nuclear Power Safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He specializes in nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and nuclear power safety.
Lyman has published extensively in jour ...
, a senior staff scientist at the
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. Anne Kapuscinski, Professor of Environmenta ...
, has challenged specific cost-saving design choices made for two Generation III reactors, both the
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 impr ...
and
ESBWR. Lyman, John Ma (a senior structural engineer at the NRC), and
Arnold Gundersen
Arnold "Arnie" Gundersen (born January 4, 1949 in Elizabeth, New Jersey) is a former nuclear industry executive, and engineer with more than 44 years of nuclear industry experience who became a whistleblower in 1990. Gundersen has written dozens of ...
(an
anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...
consultant) are concerned about what they perceive as weaknesses in the steel containment vessel and the concrete shield building around the AP1000 in that its containment vessel does not have sufficient safety margins in the event of a direct airplane strike.
[Matthew L. Wald]
Critics Challenge Safety of New Reactor Design
''New York Times'', 22 April 2010. Other engineers do not agree with these concerns, and claim the containment building is more than sufficient in safety margins and
factors of safety.
The
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. Anne Kapuscinski, Professor of Environmenta ...
in 2008 referred to the
EPR as the only new reactor design under consideration in the United States that "...appears to have the potential to be significantly safer and more secure against attack than today's reactors."
There have also been issues in fabricating the precision parts necessary to maintain safe operation of these reactors, with cost overruns, broken parts, and extremely fine steel tolerances causing issues with new reactors under construction in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
at the
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
The Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant is located at Flamanville, Manche, France on the Cotentin Peninsula. The power plant houses two pressurized water reactors (PWRs) that produce 1.3 GWe each and came into service in 1986 and 1987, respective ...
.
Lists of Generation III reactors
Generation III reactors currently operational or under construction
Generation III designs not adopted or built yet
Lists of Generation III+ reactors
Generation III+ reactors currently operational or under construction
Generation III+ designs not adopted or built yet
See also
*
Generation II reactor
A generation II reactor is a design classification for a nuclear reactor, and refers to the class of commercial reactors built until the end of the 1990s. Prototypical and older versions of PWR, CANDU, BWR, AGR, RBMK and VVER are among them.
...
*
Generation IV reactor
Generation IV reactors (Gen IV) are six nuclear reactor designs recognized by the Generation IV International Forum. The designs target improved safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost.
The most developed Gen IV reactor design is the sodium ...
*
List of reactor types
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...
References
External links
Nuclear Reactors Knowledge Base IAEA
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 195 ...
Advanced Nuclear Power Reactors,
World Nuclear Association
World Nuclear Association is the international organization that promotes nuclear power and supports the companies that comprise the global nuclear industry. Its members come from all parts of the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium mining, ur ...
, May 2008
{{Nuclear technology
Nuclear power reactor types