Long term review of research on light water reactor types

In Japan, 24 nuclear power plants of 17.18 million kWe capacity are in operation, and their rate of operation has shown the good result of more than 60% since 1980. One of the research on the development of light water reactors is the electric power common research, which was started in 1976, and 272 researches were carried out till 1982. It contributed to the counter-measures to stress corrosion cracking, thermal fatigue and the thinning of steam generator tubes, to the reduction of crud generation and the remote control and automation of inspection and maintenance, and to the verification of safety. The important items for the future are the cost down of nuclear power plant construction, the development of robots for nuclear power plants, the improvement of the ability to follow load variation, and the development of light water reactors of new types. It is necessary to diversify the types of reactors to avoid the effect of a serious trouble which may occur in one type of reactors. Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., thinks that the Japanese type PWRs having the technical features of KWU type PWRs are desirable for the future development. The compatibility with the condition of installation permission in Japan, the required design change and the economy of the standard design PWRs of KWU (1.3 million kW) have been studied since October, 1981, by KWU and three Japanese manufacturers. (Kako, I.)