Next Generation Nuclear Plant; A Report to Congress, April 2010

Washington DC: U. S. Department of Energy, 2010. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. Very good. vi, 28 pages. Illustrations (color). . A Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) is a generation IV very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR) that could be coupled to a neighboring hydrogen production facility. It could also produce electricity and supply process heat. Up to 30% of this heat could be used to produce hydrogen via high temperature electrolysis significantly reducing the cost of the process. The United States Department of Energy issued in 2007 a "request for expressions of interest from prospective industry teams" that want to provide design services for developing the NGNP. With an earlier focus on South Africa's Pebble bed modular reactor, in 2012 Idaho National Laboratory approved a design similar to Areva's SC-HTGR (formerly Antares) reactor as the chosen Next Generation Nuclear Power Plant HTGR to be deployed as a prototype by 2021. It was in competition with General Atomics' Gas turbine modular helium reactor and Westinghouse' Pebble Bed Modular Reactor. The SC-HTGR is based on the GT-MHR. An industry alliance of General Atomics and Areva are targeting 2015 for submittal of a Construction Permit application. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project helps address the President's goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing energy security. The NGNP project was formally established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), designated as Public Law 109-58, 42 USC 16021, to demonstrate the generation of electricity and/or hydrogen with a high-temperature nuclear energy source. The project is being executed in collaboration with industry, DOE national laboratories, and U.S. universities. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for licensing and regulatory oversight of the demonstration nuclear reactor. The NGNP project includes design, licensing, construction, and research and development (R&D) conducted in two phases as defined in EPAct 2005. Phase 1 consists of pre-conceptual and conceptual design and demonstration activities leading to the selection of a single technology for NGNP. Phase 2 is the preliminary and final design leading to licensing and construction of a demonstration plant. Licensing scope supports the development of a licensing framework for high-temperature gas reactors and includes the preparation and submission of a combined construction and operating license application (COLA) for the NGNP. The scope of R&D falls into the following four major technical areas: (a) fuel development and qualification, (b) graphite qualification, (c) high-temperature materials qualification, and (d) design and safety methods validation. Licensing and R&D activities are included in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the project, with appropriate risk-mitigation strategies incorporated to minimize the impact on design from conducting research and development in parallel.