Development status and future prospect of floating nuclear power plant

The plant uses small pressurized water reactor technology similar to nuclear submarines, and the turbine and alternator parts are separated into separate modules. In the construction process, this type of nuclear power plant can be assembled in the shipyard using the modular construction technology of ships, and then transported to the working sea by ships, which has certain advantages in terms of construction time and cost. The installation site is 60m-100m deep and 5km to 15km offshore on the seabed, and the installation method can be fixed horizontally on the seabed, or the module is suspended several meters above the seabed, depending on the degree of earthquake damage. Once installed, the nuclear power plant can deliver electricity to onshore users via cable, which can effectively avoid the impact of harsh Marine environmental conditions such as waves and typhoons. In addition, the design concept of this type of nuclear power plant is similar to that of the beam nuclear power plant in the United States, which can use seawater to cool the reactor in emergencies, and the safety is relatively high.

French "Flexblue" nuclear power plant

(4) South Korea focuses on gravity base type nuclear power plants to explore new nuclear power technology development paths

After the end of World War II, South Korea established the Atomic Energy Research and Development Agency, and joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1957, with the intention of advancing the research and development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power technology. However, due to the intervention of the United States, South Korea's nuclear weapons program was forced to halt, but its nuclear power technology has been rapidly developed. At this stage, South Korea has successfully joined the ranks of nuclear power, and has its own research and development of third-generation nuclear power technology ability, its territory has 24 nuclear power plants, nuclear power generation accounted for nearly 30% of the total power generation. In the field of floating nuclear power plants, South Korea has proposed the Gravity-Based Structure Type (GBS) nuclear power plant design concept to explore a new nuclear power technology development path.

The GBS nuclear power plant is built in a modular design, and then the gravity infrastructure module is towed by a tugboat to a floating nuclear power station mooring point at sea, and it is placed on the seabed using a ballast system, and finally it is rigidly connected using steel bars, post-tensioned cables and cement slurry, which is used as a carrying platform for the nuclear power plant. Because of its single bearing structure, it can effectively reduce the risks associated with pipelines and cables, and can reduce the impact of earthquakes. At the same time, the design concept of the nuclear power plant is located between the onshore and offshore nuclear power plants, which can partially mitigate the impact of harsh sea conditions on its carrier. However, GBS nuclear power plants have certain disadvantages compared with other types of floating nuclear power plants, and are still unable to avoid the impact of tsunamis.

GBS nuclear power plant in South Korea

Second, the development dilemma of floating nuclear power plants

At this stage, in addition to the successful commercial operation of floating nuclear power plants in Russia, the relevant projects in other countries are still in the research and development stage, and the floating nuclear power plants as a whole are still in the early stage of commercialization, and there is still a certain distance from large-scale application in the world. At the same time, there is still a gap between the floating nuclear power plant and the traditional nuclear power plant in terms of technical maturity, and it still faces many unknown risks in its development process. In addition, affected by the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant leak, individual countries are still cautious about the development of floating nuclear power plants, and public acceptance needs to be further improved. Overall, the development of floating nuclear power plants still faces many difficulties.

At the market level, the market strategic positioning of floating nuclear power plants is difficult to unify, and it faces many obstacles in the process of international business import and export. At present, Russia's market positioning for floating nuclear power plants is relatively clear, its operating model is initially set as "Build-Operate-Transfer" (build-Operate-transfer, BOT), and in the market segment, "Academician Lomonosov" synchronically focuses on nuclear power generation and seawater desalination, and the future development prospects are relatively broad. However, the relevant projects in the United States, France and South Korea are still in the design and research and development state, basically to meet the domestic power demand, and are still in the discussion stage in terms of market segmentation applications, resulting in the overall market strategic positioning of floating nuclear power plants is difficult to unify. At the same time, floating nuclear power plant is a new product in the world nuclear energy field, which not only has its difficulties in construction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning, but also has a unique operation in the process of international business import and export. Affected by multiple factors such as business program selection, responsibility division, security guarantee, transportation and physical protection, and international supervision, the overall development still has many problems.