AdvancedmodularitydesignfortheMITpebblebedreactorOriginalResearchArticle

Thefutureofallreactorswilldependonwhethertheycanbeeconomicallybuiltandoperated.Oneofthemajorimpedimentstonewnuclearconstructionisthecapitalcostdueinlargeparttothelengthofconstructiontimeandcomplexityoftheplant.Pebblebedreactorsoffertheopportunitytoreducethecomplexityoftheplantbecausethenumberofsafetysystemsrequiredissignificantlyreducedduetotheinherentsafetyofthetechnology.However,becauseofitssmallsize,thecapitalcostperkilowattislikelytobelargeiftraditionalconstructionapproachesarefollowed.Thisstronglysuggeststheneedforinnovativeconstructionconceptstoreducetheconstructiontimeandcost.MIThasproposedamodularityapproachinwhichtheplantispre-builtinspace-frametypemoduleswhicharebuiltinfactories.Thesespaceframeswouldcontainalltheequipmentcontainedinagivenvolume.Onceequipmentinthespaceframeisinstalled,thespaceframewouldthenbeshippedtothesiteandassembled“lego-style.”Studiespresentlyunderwayhavedemonstratedthefeasibilityoftheconcept.Thermalstressanalysishasbeenperformedandanintegrateddesignwiththespaceframeshasbeendeveloped.Itisexpectedthatthismodularityapproachwillsignificantlyshortenconstructiontimeandexpense.Thispaperproposesaconceptforfurtherdevelopment,notafinaldesignfortheentireplant.