Westinghouse AP1000 Electrical Generation Costs - Meeting Marketplace Requirements

摘要

The re-emergence of nuclear power as a leading contender for new baseload electrical generation is not an occurrence of happenstance. The nuclear industry, in general, and Westinghouse, specifically, have worked diligently with the U.S. power companies and other nuclear industry participants around the world to develop future plant designs and project implementation models that address prior problem areas that led to reduced support for nuclear power. In no particular order, the issues that Westinghouse, as an engineering and equipment supply company, focused on were: safety, plant capital costs, construction schedule reductions, plant availability, and electric generation costs. An examination of the above criteria quickly led to the conclusion that as long as safety is not compromised, simplifying plant designs can lead to positive progress of the desired endpoints for the next and later generations of nuclear units. The distinction between next and later generations relates to the readiness of the plant design for construction implementation. In setting requirement priorities, one axiom is inviolate: There is no exception, nor will there be, to the Golden Rule of business. In the electric power generation industry, once safety goals are met, low generation cost is the requirement that rules, without exception. The emphasis in this paper on distinguishing between next and later generation reactors is based on the recognition that many designs have been purposed for future application, but few have been able to attain the design pedigree required to successfully meet the requirements for next generation nuclear units. One fact is evident: Another generation of noncompetitive nuclear plants will cripple the potential for nuclear to take its place as a major contributor to new electrical generation. Only two plant designs effectively meet the economic tests and demonstrate both unparalleled safety and design credibility due to extensive progress toward engineering completion. These plants are the Westinghouse advanced passive designs- AP600 and AP1000-both of which have verifiable engineering design packages that are more than 50 percent complete