Design Features
ACR-1000 features significant design simplifications, which include:
Steel-lined containment designed for all design basis events- Sharing of long-term emergency cooling and shutdown cooling safety functions
- Use of light water coolant enabling a simplified ECI system which replaces large motor-operated, safety-qualified injection valves with passive check valves
- Reduced inspections through selection of feeder materials for increasing resistance to flow assisted corrosion (FAC) and robust fuel channel design margins
- Reduced online and start-up time with computerized testing of major safety systems and automatic calibration of in-core detector control signals
- Fuelling machine simplification with electric drives eliminating complex pneumatic systems. This accelerates the on-line fuelling process, reduces maintenance and speeds pressure tube in-service inspection
- Faster movement of personnel, without risk of airborne contamination spread, through use of ventilation systems that allow main airlock doors to be open during an outage
- Customer-driven, maintenance-based design provides required space allocation, reduction in temporary scaffolds and hoists; and provision for built-in electrical, water and air supplies for on-power and normal shutdown maintenance
- Reduction in number of sensors due to permitted sharing between systems
These technical improvements, along with advancements in project engineering, manufacturing, and construction, result in significantly reduced capital cost and construction schedule. The feedback gained from AECL’s past achievements associated with improvements and optimization of key project elements results in an optimum 42-month schedule (n
th Unit) from first concrete to fuel load.