scholarly journals Capital cost estimation for advanced nuclear power plants

Author(s):  
W.R. Stewart ◽  
K. Shirvan
2021 ◽  
Vol 2048 (1) ◽  
pp. 012001
Author(s):  
D S Wisnubroto ◽  
G R Sunaryo ◽  
Y S B Susilo ◽  
S Bahri ◽  
T Setiadipura

Abstract This paper shows the effort to implement the RDE and its challenges from 2013 to 2018. RDE was a program to introduce nuclear power plants by building non-commercial power reactors. The RDE program was also used to prove that Indonesian engineers can design a reactor that will later supply electricity and steam for industry. The technology used is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. This RDE program is a very strategic intermediate target for energy security and national sovereignty. The development of RDE-based nuclear power plants, in the long run, is expected to have implications for reducing reliance on fossil fuels, more self-sufficiency in energy supply increases national industrial capacity and competitiveness in the global economic order, as well as enhance energy and political diplomacy. Also, RDE can be a reference installation for PeLUIt (Power and Steam Generators for Industry) power plants for small and medium enterprises to meet the demand for electricity and industrial heat in an area’s needs. However, many challenges occurred to implement this program; among them were cost estimation and cost-benefit analysis. Although the program has not been realized, mainly for financial reasons, many positive things have been obtained from these activities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Robb Stewart ◽  
Koroush Shirvan

The first-of-a-kind (FOAK) nuclear plants built in the last 20 years are on average 2X over budget and schedule. One of the nuclear industry’s proposed remedies is the small modular reactor (SMR). SMR designs leverage five factors to be more economically competitive than large size reactors: 1) multiple units at a site; 2) increased factory production and learning; 3) reduced construction schedules; 4) plant design simplification and 5) unit timing. There are currently no studies that quantitatively account for these factors and compare different SMR architectures with Gen III+ large plants. This work presents a nuclear plant cost estimating methodology using a detailed bottoms-up approach for over 200 structures, systems, and components. The results compare relative cost for two large pressurized water reactors, one with active safety and one with passive safety, to two SMR designs, one with multiple reactor power modules and one with a single reactor module. Passive safety systems showed noticeable savings at both the large scale and small modular scale reactors. The power uprating of a SMR by 20% resulted in ~15% savings in the overnight capital cost. Overall, if built by an inexperience vendor and work force, the two SMRs’ overnight cost were higher than large reactors since significant on-site labor still remains while losing economy of scale. However, the single-unit SMR had significantly less total person-hours of onsite labor, and if built by an experienced vendor and workforce, its overnight construction cost showed potential to be competitive and avoid cost-overrun risks associated with megaprojects.


Author(s):  
Marjorie B. Bauman ◽  
Richard F. Pain ◽  
Harold P. Van Cott ◽  
Margery K. Davidson

2010 ◽  
pp. 50-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo T. León ◽  
Loreto Cuesta ◽  
Eduardo Serra ◽  
Luis Yagüe

Author(s):  
R. Z. Aminov ◽  
A. N. Bayramov ◽  
M. V. Garievskii

The paper gives the analysis of the problem of the primary current frequency regulation in the power system, as well as the basic requirements for NPP power units under the conditions of involvement in the primary regulation. According to these requirements, the operation of NPPs is associated with unloading and a corresponding decrease in efficiency. In this regard, the combination of nuclear power plants with a hydrogen complex is shown to eliminate the inefficient discharge mode which allows the steam turbine equipment and equipment of the reactor facility to operate in the basic mode at the nominal power level. In addition, conditions are created for the generation and accumulation of hydrogen and oxygen during the day, as well as additionally during the nighttime failure of the electrical load which allows them to be used to generate peak power.  The purpose of the article is to assess the systemic economic effect as a result of the participation of nuclear power plants in combination with the hydrogen complex in the primary control of the current frequency in the power sys-tem, taking into account the resource costs of the main equipment. In this regard, the paper gives the justification of cyclic loading of the main equipment of the hydrogen complex: metal storage tanks of hydrogen and oxygen, compressor units, hydrogen-oxygen combustion chamber of vapor-hydrogen overheating of the working fluid in the steam turbine cycle of a nuclear power plant. The methodological foundations for evaluating the working life of equipment under cyclic loading with the participation in the primary frequency control by the criterion of the growth rate of a fatigue crack are described. For the equipment of the hydrogen complex, the highest intensity of loading is shown to occur in the hydrogen-oxygen combustion chamber due to high thermal stresses.  The system economic effect is estimated and the effect of wear of the main equipment under cyclic loading is shown. Under the conditions of combining NPP power units with a hydrogen complex, the efficiency of primary reg-ulation is shown to depend significantly on: the cost of equipment subjected to cyclic loading; frequency and intensity of cyclic loading; the ratio of the tariff for peak electricity, and the cost of electricity of nuclear power plants.  Based on the developed methodology for assessing the effectiveness of the participation of nuclear power plants with a hydrogen complex in the primary frequency control, taking into account the damage to the equipment, the use of the hydrogen complex is shown to provide a tangible economic effect compared with the option of unloading nuclear power plants with direct participation in frequency control.


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