Pebble bed modular reactor
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| Type | Engineering |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa |
| Area served | South Africa, International |
| Key people | CEO: Jaco Kriek |
| Industry | Nuclear |
| Services | Design, Project Management and Related Services |
| Employees | Est. 900 |
| Website | http://www.pbmr.com |
The pebble bed modular reactor or PBMR is a particular design of pebble bed reactor under development by South African company PBMR (Pty) Ltd since 1994, in partnership with Eskom and other companies.
The PBMR is fueled and moderated by fuel spheres each containing TRISO coated oxide fuel particles and a surrounding hollow sphere of graphite moderator. These are stacked in a close packed lattice and cooled by helium, which is used to drive a turbine directly, or may be used to provide process heat for the production of hydrogen fuel.
The PBMR is modular in that only small to mid-sized units will be designed; Larger power stations will be built by combining many of these modules. As of 2008, 400MWt was emerging as an optimum module size, considerably larger than the original concept size.
The concept is based on THTR in Germany, but modified to drive a Brayton cycle turbine. The core is annular with a centre column as a neutron reflector. Operating fuel temperature is to be kept below 1130°C, to minimise fission product release from the fuel during operation. The control rods operate outside the fuel cavity, rather than in the spaces between the spheres, to simplify the geometry and management of the sphere lattice.
The core is designed so that passive cooling is adequate to keep the fuel within its safe temperature range during shutdown. No secondary containment is considered necessary.
Construction of a prototype single-unit demonstration reactor at Koeberg is scheduled to start in 2010, with fuel loading in 2014 with fuel supplied by a pilot fuel plant to be built at Pelindaba. The first commercial units could start construction in 2017.
[edit] External links
- PBMR (Pty) Ltd website.
- Abstract of PBMR design for the future, describing PBMR development 1994-2002.
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