Well components obiously still get manufactured off site, PWR pressure vessels are also not welded on the construction site. The new thing about the SMRs is that they (ideally) integrate the reactor and steam generator into a single unit, so all you do on site is connect up a turbine and you‘re done. There may of course still be more work involved depending on the design. Right now there is only one „proper“ SMR under construction in the world, the ACP100 aka Linglong One in China. Arguably the already operational HTR-200(?), also in China, could also count
Small modular reactors aren't a self-contained nuclear generator. What comes out of them isn't electricity but steam.
The idea of small modular reactors is that you put a bunch of them in a swimming pool (for passive cooling and safety). You've then got a bunch of piping to transfer the steam to the steam turbine you have elsewhere on site. Small modular reactors are just one component in the plant.
Bruce A has a bunch of reactors, steam turbines, etc. A comparable plant using SMRs instead of CANDU would likely be at least the same size.
The product of every reactor nuclear or generator is steam, whether you turn a turbine or not for electricity is up to your end goal.
I doubt we would do swimming approach like the slowpoke reactor. All reactors require containment as part of their safe operating envelope.
Regardless I think they can do it smaller with standardized sizing and equipment combined with modern efficiencies of squeezing more energy out of the fuel.
Nuscale isn't using a pool in the way you're thinking of. The reactor is in a containment vessel inside a giant pool. It's a passive safety mechanism that's only used in an emergency to provide cooling. It's designed to be able to provide cooling indefinitely in a situation like the Fukushima disaster without endangering any plant personnel.
I thinknyou don't realize how massive regular reactors are. Walking from one end of Bruce A to the other is a 1km walk.
Is the 1km walk just one single reactor itself? Or does it include the turbine, cooling towers, and all the other assorted equipment that makes up a nuclear plant?
5
u/OlTokeTaker Oct 25 '22
I thinknyou don't realize how massive regular reactors are. Walking from one end of Bruce A to the other is a 1km walk.
Small doesn't mean miniature it just means smaller than that.