POWER July 2016 - 12

3. New design. Oregon-based NuScale
Power is preparing to submit a design certification
application for its 50-MW small modular
reactor (SMR) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
this fall. The SMR developer is the
only one to have an active customer deployment
project: The first NuScale facility is due
to be completed in 2024 in Idaho for UAMPS,
a municipal utility. In March, the company-
whose primary investor is Fluor Corp.-unveiled
a modified AREVA HTP-2 fuel design for
the SMR, dubbed " NuFuel HTP2. " This image
shows a full-scale mockup of the upper part of
a NuScale SMR. Courtesy: NuScale Power
4. On the nuclear horizon. An artist's
rendering of a future CAP1400 nuclear reactor
facility. Courtesy: SNPTC
China's CAP1400 Clears
IAEA Safety Assessment
China's CAP1400-a reactor design based
on Westinghouse's AP1000 pressurized
water reactor-has successfully passed
the International Atomic Energy Agency's
(IAEA's) Generic Reactor Safety Review.
The milestone is significant for China,
which plans to deploy the advanced reactor
design in large numbers (Figure 4) as
well as export the technology.
The IAEA's review assesses the safety
cases of new reactor designs that are not
yet in the licensing stage against applicable
IAEA safety standards.
According to China's State Nuclear Power
Technology Corp. (SNPTC), the 1,500MWe
(gross) reactor has a design life of
60 years and a design annual availability
of more than 93%. Refueling would be
needed every 18 months, and it has passive
safety features, including a passive
core cooling system, a passive containment
cooling system, and a passive main
control room habitability system. As designed,
the company envisions construction
would span about 56 months, though
it is working to trim that to 48 months.
SNPTC says China has spent about $2
house, and NuScale Power, whose design
and licensing is also backed by $217 million
in DOE match funding over five years
(Figure 3).
Ultimately, the technology decision
will be heavily influenced by the SMR design's
attractiveness as it relates to safety,
cost, and operability, TVA Senior Manager
for SMRs Dan Stout said. " Other considerations
include the developer's financial
strength, capabilities and commitments
that influence the attractiveness of the
business case. " Depending on technology
selection, the total electrical output of
the site will be a maximum of 800 MW,
he added. " The application establishes a
plant parameter envelope that includes all
four domestic light-water small modular
reactor designs. This envelope could support
multiple reactors from each of the
SMR vendors, up to four mPower reactors,
four Holtec reactors, 12 NuScale reactors,
or three Westinghouse reactors, " he said.
12
billion on research and development of
the reactor. Among its major developers
were Westinghouse, which provided design
consultation; Lockheed Martin, which
participated in the protection and safety
monitoring system development; Ohio
State University, which helped with test
verification; and KSB and Curtiss-Wright's
Electro-Mechanical Division, which participated
in the development of the reactor
coolant pump.
One of the World's Biggest
Biomass-Fired CHP Plants
Is Inaugurated
Fortum Värme, a company jointly owned
by Finnish energy firm Fortum and the city
of Stockholm on May 9 inaugurated a new
biomass-fired combined heat and power
(CHP) plant on the shores of Värtan, a
strait in Sweden's capital city.
The Värtan CHP8 (130 MWe, 280 MWth),
which began construction in 2013, will
www.powermag.com
begin commercial operations in the fall
(Figure 5). According to its developers,
the plant will use forest residues and
wood waste-sawdust, bark, and logging
residues from local and regional sources
around the Baltic Sea-as well as recovered
heat from data centers to produce
district heat for nearly 200,000 households.
The plant is also designed for fuel
flexibility to allow it to use new fuels from
the developing bioenergy market, Fortum
said. Daily consumption of wood chips will
be about 12,000 m3
.
Building the plant in the middle of Stockholm-a
city with a population of about
1.4 million people-involved multiple
challenges, including working with limited
space and requiring closed-fuel systems to
avoid dust emissions and noise. The plant
uses an old rock cavern-previously used
for oil storage-that was converted into
a massive underground wood chip storage
facility. It is able to store about 60,000 m3
,
or five days of fuel demand.
While the Värtan site has full access
to road, rail, and sea transportation, the
current fuel procurement plan is based on
getting 40% by rail from Nordic biomass
suppliers and another 60% by ship from
the Baltic Sea region and Russia. " The aim
is to ensure the security of supply and access
to a wide geographic biomass market
over time, " Fortum explained.
To ensure adequate supply by sea, the
company built a new 200-m pier in the
harbor area to accommodate two vessels
up to Panamax size. On average, the plant
requires three to four shipments per week
to meet its fuel demand, as well as five
trainloads per week, each with a capacity
of about 4,600 m3
. All fuel is unloaded
and processed indoors within a closed
system before delivery to the power plant.
All logistics are coordinated in-house to
control supply risks.
The company's decision to use biomass
was complicated by an emerging debate
in the European Union (EU) about how
sustainable the fuel source is. Fortum
noted in an April 2016 energy review that
biomass is now the most common form of
renewable energy in the EU, and it is the
only source that can replace every type of
fossil fuel in all energy markets-heating,
cooling, electricity, and transport-but
concerns are growing about competition
for resources and security of supply.
In the EU, while sustainability and
traceability concerns are primarily related
to biomass imports from other continents,
the 27-member bloc has yet to issue a uniform
sustainability policy on all bioenergy
(current EU sustainability criteria only apPOWER
| July 2016
POWER July 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER July 2016
