[UPDATED] Portland, Oregon, based NuScale Power LLC said Tuesday that it had completed fabrication and assembly of a full-scale, upper module mockup of a small modular reactor, which is named the the NuScale Power ModuleTM or NPM.
The mockup includes "top assembly of the NuScale Power Module from the module access platform down to the elevation of the reactor vessel head," the company said. The main components include the upper portion of the containment vessel, the reactor vessel head, major piping, such as steam, feed water and CVC, control rod drive mechanisms, major valves, such as isolation and ECC valves, and the module access platform.
The mockup allows for hands-on, practical steps to be studied. In a statement, NuScale said the mockup would "give engineers important insights into the inspection and maintenance activities," of the small modular reactor, which is touted by many as a game changer for the nuclear power industry, allowing for safer, even meltdown-proof reactors that are cheaper and much faster to build than standard nuclear reactors.
The upper section of the NuScale Power Module will allow the company to advance planning for worker safety, federal regulations and radiation protection planning. The company can also move ahead with planning and step-by-step rehearsals of maintenance, inspection, assembly and fabrication. It also allows for "customer and regulator inquiries regarding module configuration," NuScale said.
"The fabrication of this full-scale, upper module mockup is an important step in the continued support of our reactor design,” stated Dale Atkinson, NuScale’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nuclear Officer. “It provides our engineers with an important opportunity for in service inspection evaluations which are scheduled to begin in May.”
The small reactors, the company said, rely on gravity, rather than pumps, to circulate water through a spiral tube configuration. NuScale considers this a "simple, safe, economic and scalable small" reactor that allows for natural forces for safety. "Gravity, convection and conduction … are used for normal operations and safe shutdowns," the company said. This eliminated the need for reactor coolant pumps, motors, valves, and large-diameter reactor coolant system piping, according to NuScale.
In practice, the company envisions as many as 12 SMRs set into the same facility to produce "as much as 600 MWe gross (570 net, nominal, after house loads).
The mock-up has been completed in plenty of time for the Aug. 20-21 NuScale Exposition, which the company will host in Corvallis, Ore. "NuEx will provide members of the utility community, investors and other interested parties the opportunity to learn more about the US leader in SMR development, tour its facilities, talk with NuScale senior executives, and interface with suppliers and investors. The upper module mockup is just one of several NuScale facilities that will be included in the NuEX tour schedule," NuScale announced.