AP1000
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The AP1000 is a proposed passively safe pressurized water reactor designed and manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company for nuclear power plants. This is considered a Generation III+ design. Each reactor is designed to generate over 1000-megawatts-electric (1117 to 1154 per Westinghouse).
(A smaller design, the AP600, was first evaluated. The AP1000 builds on the research for that plant.)
In January 2006, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the final design certification for the AP1000. This means two things: (1) prospective builders can apply for a combined Construction and Operating License (COL) before construction starts, whose validity is conditional upon the plant being built as designed, and (2) each AP1000 will be virtually identical.
Probabilistic risk assessment was used in the design of the plants. This enabled minimization of risks, and calculation of the overall safety of the plant. (The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is preparing a new safety study - these plants will be orders of magnitude safer than the last, overly pessimistic study, NUREG-1150.)
The AP1000 will be manufactured in modules designed for rail or barge shipment. This will allow constructing many modules in parallel, and the plant is designed to have fuel load 36 months after concrete is first poured.
Two AP1000s are slated for Cherokee County, South Carolina, and one or two for the Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station in Alabama.
See also
External links
- [AP1000 Home Page]
- [Nuclear Energy Institute's summary of the AP1000] - see the cutaway diagram
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