SIR [safe integral reactor] - an imaginative way ahead

Combustion Engineering, Rolls Royce and Associates, and the UKAEA have found that, independently, their thinking on the future of light water reactors has been leading towards reconsideration of small units -around 300 MWe. A study group has been set up to collaborate on the SIR (Safe Integral Reactor). The integral reactor has its major primary circuit components, core, steam generators and reactor coolant pumps built into a single large reactor vessel. This turns out to provide many advantages over the usual dispersed or loop plant. (author)