Advanced Power Ultra-Uprates of Existing Plants (APPU) Final Scientific/Technical Report

Technical Report · Fri Mar 31 00:00:00 EST 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/878245· OSTI ID:878245

Rubiolo, Pablo R. ^[1]; Conway, Lawarence E. ^[1]; Oriani, Luca ^[1]; Lahoda, Edward J. ^[1]; DeSilva, Greg ^[1]; Hu, Min H. ^[2]; Hartz, Josh ^[2]; Bachrach, Uriel ^[2]; Smith, Larry ^[2]; Dudek, Daniel F. ^[2]; Feng, Dandong ^[3]; Hejzlar, Pavel ^[3]; Kazimi, Mujid S. ^[3]

---

1. Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Science and Technology Dept.
2. Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Nuclear Services Division
3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

This project assessed the feasibility of a Power Ultra-Uprate on an existing nuclear plant. The study determined the technical and design limitations of the current components, both inside and outside the containment. Based on the identified plant bottlenecks, the design changes for major pieces of equipment required to meet the Power Ultra-Uprate throughput were determined. Costs for modified pieces of equipment and for change-out and disposal of the replaced equipment were evaluated. These costs were then used to develop capital, fuel and operating and maintenance cost estimates for the Power Ultra-Uprate plant. The cost evaluation indicates that the largest cost components are the replacement of power (during the outage required for the uprate) and the new fuel loading. Based on these results, the study concluded that, for a standard 4-loop plant, the proposed Power Ultra-Uprate is technically feasible. However, the power uprate is likely to be more expensive than the cost (per Kw electric installed) of a new plant when large capacity uprates are considered (>25%). Nevertheless, the concept of the Power Ultra-Uprate may be an attractive option for specific nuclear power plants where a large margin exists in the steam and power conversion system or where medium power increases (~600 MWe) are needed. The results of the study suggest that development efforts on fuel technologies for current nuclear power plants should be oriented towards improving the fuel performance (fretting-wear, corrosion, uranium load, manufacturing, safety) required to achieve higher burnup rather focusing on potential increases in the fuel thermal output.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Science and Technology Dept., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE - Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: FC07-03ID14535
• OSTI ID: 878245
• Report Number(s): STD-TFNE-06-10; TRN: US0702716
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BURNUP
CAPACITY
CAPITAL
CONTAINMENT
CORROSION
DESIGN
EVALUATION
FOCUSING
MAINTENANCE
MANUFACTURING
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PERFORMANCE
SAFETY
STEAM
URANIUM
Nuclear Power Plant
Ultra Power Uprates
Power Generation Cost Reduction
High Performence Fuel Assemblies
Annular Fuel Rods
Uranium Nitride