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NRC looks to leverage previous approvals for large LWRs
During this time of resurging interest in nuclear power, many conversations have centered on one fundamental problem: Electricity is needed now, but nuclear projects (in recent decades) have taken many years to get permitted and built.
In the past few years, a bevy of new strategies have been pursued to fix this problem. Workforce programs that seek to laterally transition skilled people from other industries, plans to reuse the transmission infrastructure at shuttered coal sites, efforts to restart plants like Palisades or Duane Arnold, new reactor designs that build on the legacy of research done in the early days of atomic power—all of these plans share a common throughline: leveraging work already done instead of starting over from square one to get new plants designed and built.
P. Chr. Løken, J. Bakke, I. Gløersen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 42 | Number 2 | February 1979 | Pages 155-162
Technical Paper | Thorium Fuel Cycle in a Breeder Economy / Reactor Siting | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32146
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The major findings of a comprehensive study of the major aspects of rock cavity construction of a large nuclear power plant are: 1. Current technology is adequate for the realization of such construction. 2. A method for estimating the probability of rock fallout and gross cavity instability is presently not available. 3. Certain design modifications and amplifications must be made to prevent dependent failures. 4. No significant reduction in the immediate radiological effects of Class 9 accidents will result unless special design measures are made for this purpose. 5. The vulnerability of the plant to certain external effects is significantly reduced. 6. The total time for the realization of such construction will be significantly longer than that for a traditionally constructed plant. 7. The extra cost will be substantial.
