May 20 2009
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) today announced that its Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) technology has earned recognition as a GE ecomagination product.
Ecomagination is GE’s corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing operational and environmental challenges.
The designation underscores the capability of GEH’s nuclear reactor technology portfolio to meet the demand of consumers and utilities for new energy solutions that offer operating savings and environmental benefits including mitigating greenhouse gas emissions associated with power generation.
Following a stringent review by GE and a third party, the Generation III ABWR has been added to GE’s portfolio of more than 80 ecomagination-certified technologies. The list also includes the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR), the Generation III+ design that earned ecomagination certification in 2007.
GEH offers both the ABWR and ESBWR designs to customers worldwide to meet the individual needs of energy companies seeking to meet rising energy demand with low greenhouse gas emission power alternatives. Nuclear energy is one of the few baseload sources of electricity that create nearly zero CO2 emissions during the electricity-generation process.
“Our next-generation reactors offer utilities critical and quantifiable economic, environmental and safety advantages, as well as enhanced plant performance over previous generations of reactors,” said Jack Fuller, GEH President and CEO. “With numerous countries seeking a larger array of energy choices that mitigate emissions, we are pleased that both the ABWR and ESBWR offer measurable examples of the benefits of nuclear energy.”
Compared to typical U.S. electricity production, an ABWR or ESBWR would avoid the annual emission of 6.7 million tons of CO2, equivalent to the annual emissions of approximately 1.3 million cars. Both reactor technologies are expected to have 34 to 40% lower operating and maintenance costs per kilowatt-hour than currently operating Generation I and II nuclear reactors in the United States. This is primarily because of their increased generating capacity, as well as increased capacity factor and systems simplifications.
With the 1,350-MW ABWR, GEH has the only shovel-ready Generation III reactor design available to U.S. utilities, providing customers with additional cost certainties. GEH’s ABWR technology is the world’s only commercially proven Generation III reactor design, with successful construction and operational experience. The first of four ABWRs in service today went online in Japan in 1996, and four additional units are being built. GEH’s global nuclear alliance offers customers uninterrupted construction experience. Backed by an experienced global supply chain, GEH plans to apply the latest modular construction techniques.
GEH obtained certification for the ABWR from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1997, allowing for construction in the United States. GEH recently notified the NRC it intends to renew its ABWR license for an additional 15 years beyond 2012, signaling the company’s ongoing commitment to ABWR technology for customers in the United States and around the globe.
With the 1,520-MW ESBWR, GEH will deploy a Generation III+ technology offering advantages including passive safety features, a further simplified design and even higher safety margins than the already safe, deployed U.S. fleet. The ESBWR currently is progressing in the NRC’s design certification process.
Globally, more than 400 nuclear reactors are in operation, with most considered older Generation II designs. In a growing number of countries, energy companies plan to build new fleets of next-generation reactors to meet rising energy demands and to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In India, for instance, GEH is pursuing a multi-unit ABWR reactor project to help meet a pressing need for increased energy output in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.