Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Nuclear power reactor design selected by industry group

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant Industry Alliance Limited on Feb. 14 said it has selected the Areva Generation IV reactor concept as the optimum design for next generation nuclear plants. The Areva design is a 625 MW thermal, high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) and would provide a source of nuclear energy with inherent safety features and zero greenhouse gas emissions.

“Commercialization of next-generation nuclear technology is a critical component of securing clean sources of energy for the future,” said Fred Moore, Executive Director of NGNP Industry Alliance. “HTGR is the game changing technology for clean, safe nuclear energy production.”

The Alliance said HTGR technology provides improved safety and security through its inherent design, by ensuring no internal or external event could lead to a release of radioactive material, as proven by experimental and demonstration reactors around the world.

The Areva HTGR technology’s capability and modular design would support a broad range of market sectors, providing highly-efficient energy to industries such as electrical power generation, petrochemicals, non-conventional oil recovery and synthetic fuel production.

“We are very pleased that the Alliance has selected the Areva prismatic core, modular HTGR for the co-generation of process heat and electricity,” said Mike Rencheck, chief operating officer, Areva Inc. “The industrial end-user requirements have been the primary consideration for making this advanced technology selection over other small modular reactors. The co-generation aspects offer long term, predictable energy supply.”

The NGNP Industry Alliance Limited represents the interests and views of the member companies who have taken a leadership role to mutually support and direct project plans to design, build, operate and use the HTGR technology. The Alliance provides a forum and focus to communicate industry needs and requirements and works in concert with the Idaho National Laboratory and others to seek out and promote industrial uses for HTGR technologies within the United States, North America and other continents around the world.

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