The nuclear option for US electrical generating capacity additions utilizing boiling water reactor technology

The technology status of the advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) and the simplified boiling water reactors (SBWR) is presented along with an analysis of the economic potential of advanced nuclear power generation systems based on BWR technology to meet the projected domestic electrical generating capacity need through 2005. The forecasted capacity needs are determined for each domestic North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) region. Extensive data sets detailing each NERC region´s specific generation and load characteristics, and capital and fuel cost parameters are utilized in the economic analysis, by means of an expansion planning model, of the optimal generation additions required to meet this need. In addition to a reference case, several sensitivity studies are performed with regard to capital costs and fuel price escalation