Technical and economic assessment of the direct-cycle gas-cooled reactor plant. Volume 1. Introduction and summary

A technical and economic assessment of an 1100 MWe direct-cycle gas-cooled reactor plant (DCGCR) is presented. The reference plant studied was a 1974 General Atomic design, consisting of an HTGR reactor, concentric heat exchangers, 3-loop horizontal turbomachinery and a dry cooling system. The technical evaluation concludes that the DCGCR plant can be realized by the early 1990's. Areas of technological concern are identified and a program of resolution is recommended. The economic evaluation considered a number of parameters in the determination of the DCGCR viability. These parameters included water use, water availability, licensability, major component fabrication, component dependability, construction requirements, and power generation costs. One of the principal conclusions of the economic evaluation is that the cost to generate electricity for a coal-fired plant with SO2 removal equipment, a LWR plant, and a HTGR-SC plant is greater by approximately 50 percent, 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively, than the cost for a DCGCR plant of the same size