Advanced Boiling Water Reactor

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The Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) is a generation III reactor based on the boiling water reactor. The ABWR was designed by General Electric.

One chief improvement is that the recirculation pumps and piping are contained inside the reactor pressure vessel, thus making it impossible for them to leak outside of the vessel. Also, in the event of a loss of coolant accident (LOCA), plant response has been fully automated and operator action is not required for 3 days. These and other improvements make the plant significantly safer than previous reactors.

As of 2006, three ABWRs were in operation in Japan: Kashiwazaki-Kariwa units 6 and 7, which opened in 1996 and 1997, and Hamaoka unit 5, opened 2004 having started construction in only 2000. Another two, identical to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors, were nearing completion at Lungmen in Taiwan, and one more (Shimane 3) had just commenced construction in Japan, with major siteworks to start in 2008 and completion in 2011. Plans for at least six other ABWRs in Japan have been postponed, cancelled, or converted to other reactor types, but three of these (Higashidori 1 and 2 and Ohma) were still listed as on order by the utilities, with completion dates of 2012 or later.

Several ABWRs are proposed for construction in the U.S. under the Nuclear Power 2010 Program. However these proposals face fierce competition from more recent designs such as the ESBWR (Economic Simplified BWR, a generation III+ reactor also from GE) and the AP1000 (Advanced, Passive, 1000MWe, from Westinghouse). These designs take passive safety features even further than the ABWR does, as do more revolutionary designs such as the pebble bed modular reactor.

On June 19, 2006 NRG Energy filed a Letter Of Intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two 1358-MWe ABWRs at the South Texas Project site. [1]