Abstract
Nuclear energy is presented as a real option in the face of the current problem of climate change and the need to reduce CO2 emissions. The nuclear reactor design with the greatest global impact throughout history and which has the most ambitious development plans is the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). Thus, a global review of such a reactor design is presented in this paper, utilizing the analysis of (i) technical aspects of the different variants of the PWR design implemented over the past eight years, (ii) the level of implementation of PWR nuclear power plants in the world, and (iii) a life extension scenario and future trends in PWR design based on current research and development (R&D) activity. To develop the second analysis, a statistical study of the implementation of the different PWR variants has been carried out. Such a statistical analysis is based on the operating factor, which represents the relative frequency of reactors operating around the world. The results reflect the hegemony of the western variants in the 300 reactors currently operating, highlighting the North American and French versions. Furthermore, a simulation of a possible scenario of increasing the useful life of operational PWRs up to 60 years has been proposed, seeing that in 2050 the generation capacity of nuclear PWRs power plants will decrease by 50%, and the number of operating reactors by 70%.
Highlights
Due to the growing demand for energy worldwide, nuclear energy has regained the relevant role it played throughout the past 20th century, as an alternative to CO2 -emitting electric power generation technologies
In the case of construction Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) in Asia (Figure 17), what is reflected in the global under construction factor (GUCF) study is maintained, where the Asian variants are the most widely implemented around the world, highlighting maintained, where the Asian variants are the most widely implemented around the world, the implementation of the VVER-1000 and VVER-1200 designs
Nuclear energy is positioning itself as an alternative to climate change and the problem it poses to humanity
Summary
Due to the growing demand for energy worldwide, nuclear energy has regained the relevant role it played throughout the past 20th century, as an alternative to CO2 -emitting electric power generation technologies. This generation technology presently accounts for 10% of the electrical energy generated in the world. Among thermal reactors there are several combinations of moderators—in charge of reducing neutron energy—and coolants—the fluid that transmits the heat generated in the reactor—that have been successfully developed in different nuclear reactor designs
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