Westinghouse Exec: PBMR Ready for Commercial Deployment by End of Next Decade

From Mining Weekly (South Africa):

“The PBMR is one of three reactor designs that we want to offer to clients as our developmental reactors,” explains Westinghouse senior vice- president and chief technology officer Dr Regis Matzie. The other two are both Westinghouse designs – the AP1000 and Iris.

“The AP1000 is our flagship – its development has been finished; it has been licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and it’s ready to launch,” he states.

The AP1000 is an advanced pressurised water reactor, and would be able to produce 1 117 MWe to 1 154 MWe.

For comparison, a single PBMR module would be a 165-MWe unit, although for power generation applications the PBMR would most often be constructed in four-, six-, or more module plants; a typical ‘four-pack’ modular unit would be able to deliver 660 MWe.

“We are currently bidding the AP1000 in China,” he reports.

“After the AP1000, chronologically speaking, will be the PBMR – we believe that the PBMR will be commercially ready by the middle of the next decade,” he says.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Technology, PBMR, Electricity, Westinghouse