Four main options are being pursued: light water reactors, fast neutron reactors, graphite-moderated high temperature reactors and various kinds of molten salt reactors (MSRs). Some of the designs described here are not yet actually taking shape, others are operating or under construction. This information page focuses on advanced designs in the small category, i.e. those now being built for the first time or still on the drawing board, and some larger ones which are outside the mainstream categories dealt with in the Advanced Nuclear Power Reactors page.
Hence many larger PWRs such as the Rolls-Royce UK SMR have external steam generators. PWR types may have integral steam generators, in which case the reactor pressure vessel needs to be larger, limiting portability from factory to site. Some of the already-operating small reactors mentioned or tabulated below do not fit this definition, but most of those described do fit it. This definition, from the World Nuclear Association, is closely based on those from the IAEA and the US Nuclear Energy Institute.
LOS ALAMOS DAILY POST CIRCULATION SERIES
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are defined as nuclear reactors generally 300 MWe equivalent or less, designed with modular technology using module factory fabrication, pursuing economies of series production and short construction times. (In this information page the use of diverse pre-fabricated modules to expedite the construction of a single large reactor is not relevant.) A subcategory of very small reactors – vSMRs – is proposed for units under about 15 MWe, especially for remote communities.
LOS ALAMOS DAILY POST CIRCULATION SERIAL
However, 'SMR' is used more commonly as an acronym for 'small modular reactor', designed for serial construction and collectively to comprise a large nuclear power plant. Together they have been referred to by the IAEA as small and medium reactors (SMRs). The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines 'small' as under 300 MWe, and up to about 700 MWe as 'medium' – including many operational units from the 20th century. At the same time there have been many hundreds of smaller power reactors built for naval use (up to 190 MW thermal) and as neutron sources a, yielding enormous expertise in the engineering of small power units and accumulating over 12,000 reactor years of experience.
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