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North American construction is back—smaller and faster—at OPG’s Darlington
“The nuclear renaissance is real here,” said Ontario Power Generation’s Subo Sinnathamby on May 8, one year to the day after OPG secured a final investment decision to build the first of four planned BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington nuclear power plant, and shortly after the new reactor’s foundation was lifted into place. “We got our license to construct in April and our [final investment decision] in May, and we’ve been off to the races since.”
Charles Forsberg, Daniel Curtis
Nuclear Technology | Volume 185 | Number 3 | March 2014 | Pages 281-295
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-58
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The traditional role of nuclear power has been the production of base-load electricity. However, the needs of the electricity grid are changing because of (a) the introduction of significant electricity generation by nondispatchable wind and solar and (b) increasing restrictions on using fossil fuels because of concerns about climate change. To meet these changing requirements, a fluoride-salt–cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) with a nuclear air-Brayton combined-cycle power system is proposed. This technology (a) can be the enabling technology for a low-carbon nuclear-renewables electrical grid and (b) can substantially improve nuclear power plant economics by increasing plant revenue by 50% or more relative to a base-load nuclear power plant. This is because the plant can be operated at full power to produce base-load electricity, stabilize the grid, produce process heat to reduce sales of low-priced electricity, and produce peak electricity with auxiliary natural gas or hydrogen. The market basis for this reactor is described with implications on the design requirements for an FHR.