Advanced boiling water reactor, the next generation-status and future

The advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) is an advanced water reactor designed by an international team of engineers and designers to address the utility and public needs for the next generation of power plants. The major emphasis in the design of the plant has been on improved operability and maintainability. This has led to an overall plant design that is simpler to build, maintain, and operate and at the same time has significantly enhanced safety features, including several features that are inherent to BWR designs and ensure ´passive´ responses to transients and accidents. The author also discusses other key features of the ABWR: internal recirculation pumps, fine motion control rod drives, digital control and instrumentation, multiplexed fiber optic cabling network, pressure suppression containment, structural integration of the containment and reactor building, and advanced turbine/generator with 52-in last stage buckets. The 1356 MWe ABWR design is being applied as a two unit project by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa site in Japan. Construction began September 1991 and commercial operation is scheduled for 1996, with the second unit one year later.<>