June 1, 2009

U.S. Being Passed by Other Nuclear Nations

Dr. Samim Anghaie

Road-Tested Technology Has the Edge

More than 10,000 years of combined operational experience with Light Water Reactors (LWRs) sets a very high bar for other systems. Gen IV systems with a sustainability advantage, like the SCWR, or very high temperature reactors for process heat applications have a long and rocky road ahead. Even by mid-century, it’s unlikely that any of these systems will replace ALWRs for baseload power at a competitive cost.

The dominance of LWRs is primarily due to two interrelated factors: a well-balanced and perfectly matched design that has survived the technology selectivity of the first two decades of commercial nuclear power development in the U.S. and the spread of this technology by U.S. industry to France, Japan, and Korea. All countries currently planning to build nuclear power plants are considering one of the two varieties of the ALWR systems: the direct-cycle boiling water reactor or indirect-cycle pressurized water reactor. Both have life expectancies up to 80 years.

So where does that leave Gen IV goals? The expanded use of ALWR technology will bring more urgency to the issue of sustainability, particularly in areas of fuel utilization and the minimization of nuclear waste. The Europeans and Japanese plan to meet the sustainability goal primarily through the development and deployment of SFR in symbiosis with ALWRs. No such decision has yet been made in the U.S.; starting an open dialogue on the issue may be very timely if the U.S. wants to avoid being stalled at the side of the road.