General Electric nuclear reactors and advantages

General Electric nuclear reactors

In 1990, Nuclear Regularity Commission (NRC) certified GEH’s( GENERAL ELECTRIC and HITACHI) ABWR (Advanced Boiling Water Reactor) in U.S.the first  and advanced generation 111 design (a U.S. Department of Energy classification to begin operations in globally. ) Today  four ABWR plants have been completed and put into commercial operation. An  additional ABWR plants are under construction, with four more plants in planning stage . ABWR is the foundation of GEH’s advanced reactor portfolio.


GEH is the last remaining U.S. vendor of light water reactor (LWR) technology owned by a U.S. company has most current on going construction experience, is construction ready and believes in getting things right new build nuclear energy is not a splint for incentives (U.S.)but rather a more than 60 years technology commitment.

ABWR

The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR )is foundation of GEH,s nuclear reactor portfolio. The design is available today for immediate generation needs of 1500 MW, providing technology and schedule certainly along with competitive economics.

These reactors were originally designed by Alis- Chalmers and General Electric (GE). The GE design survived, whereas all Alis -Chamres  are shut down. The first GE  U.S. commercial plant was at Humboldt Bay near Eureka in California . Others suppliers of BWR  design  world wide have included ASEA-Atom,Kraftwerk Union, Hitachi. Commercial BWR reactors may be found in Finland, Germany, Japan, Mexico ,Netherlands , Spain , Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan. Japan and Thailand have newest BWR units.

The BWR reactor typically allows bulk boiling of water in reactor. The operating temperature of this reactor is approximately 570 F degrees producing steam at a pressure of about 1000 pounds per square inch. Current BWR reactors have electrical outputs of 570 to 1300 Mwe. These units are about 33 per cent efficiency.

ESBWR

GEH’s next evolution of advanced BWR technology is ESBWR. It utilizes more locational options, excellent economics and operational flexibility that ultimately increases plant availability.

A GEH designed generation 111+ reactor is currently in U.S. design certification process. The design control document was docketed by NRC in 2005 and referred to Combined Construction and Operating License  (COL) application was submitted in 2007.

ESBWR is an evolutionary design the latest long time of proven , GEH, BWR  reactors. ESBWR employees passive, safety design features. It includes further design evolutions that simplify the reactor, allowing faster construction and lower costs.

Primary benefits and features of ESBWR include
.simplified design features
. Passively removes decay heat, directly to heat directly to atmosphere
.. 11 systems are eliminated from previous design
. 25 per cent fewer pumps, valves and motors

Passive design features reduce the number of active systems, increasing safety .
. It is 11 times more likely for largest asteroid near the earth impact the earth over next 100 years than ESBWR operational event to result in release of fission products to the environment .

Incorporate of features used in other operational proven reactors, including passive  containment cooling ,isolation condensers,  natural circulation  and debris  resistant  fuel.

GEH is ready to support utilities looking to build an ESBWR power plant with well established  global supply chain.

Fuel cycle

Global nuclear fuel (GNF)  a joint venture of GE Hitachi  and Toshiba designs and manufacture fuel necessary to operate nuclear power plants with highest standard of performance.

GNF is dedicated to design, development and manufacturing of reliable nuclear fuel for boiling water reactors (BWR ) nuclear power plants. GNF is comprised of manufacture  of fuel service facilities to the United  States, Japan as well as Spain through its joint venture with ENUSA. GNF offers customized nuclear fuel solutions to fit the specific energy need their customers.

As increased fuel performance becomes the industry standard there are also greater expectations on fuel reliability. To meet these demands GNF is committed to driving reliability for GE’s  customers through defense in depth program. With the goal of achieving highest level fuel performance for boiling water  reactors (BWR) defense -in depth is broad based program focused on significantly reducing the criticality  important issues nuclear power plant operations face when it comes to fuel.

Superior fuel reliability through best in class filtering technology. Optimized design and performance.

The enhanced design of GNF2 fuel assembly-based on pioneering technologies developed by GNF.provides  customers with improved fuel utilization and increased performance and reliability.

In addition to increased out put and reduced fuel costs, GNF2 advanced design offers latest technology in corrosion and debris   resistance.  The advanced  debris filter , the defender TM is now standard on GNF2 fuel assembly-increases reliability and filtration to the best available in today market.

GNF2 fuel assembly has undergone  rigorous testing and is expected to be even more reliable than  other fuel designs-preventing more fuel failures than any other design- to the standard defender filters.

Increased out put, reduced fuel cost

To meet customers need in a demanding market, GE designed  GNF2 to deliver increased energy out put-while reducing overall fuel cycle costs. This enhanced design will save money by reducing the total amount of uranium and average enrichment in fuel reloads.