PNNL

Abstract

Development of advanced Small Modular Reactors (aSMRs) is key to providing the United States with a sustainable, economically viable, and carbon-neutral energy source. The aSMR designs have attractive economic factors that should compensate for the economies of scale that have driven development of large commercial nuclear power plants to date. For example, aSMRs can be manufactured at reduced capital costs in a factory and potentially shorter lead times and then be shipped to a site to provide power away from large grid systems. The integral, self-contained nature of aSMR designs is fundamentally different than conventional reactor designs. Future aSMR deployment will require new instrumentation and control (I&C) architectures to accommodate the integral design and withstand the extreme in-vessel environmental conditions. Operators will depend on sophisticated sensing and machine vision technologies that provide efficient human-machine interface for in-vessel telepresence, telerobotic control, and remote process operations. The future viability of aSMRs is dependent on understanding and overcoming the significant technical challenges involving in-vessel reactor sensing and monitoring under extreme temperatures, pressures, corrosive environments, and radiation fluxes