The Krško Nuclear Power Plant is located in Krško, Slovenia. The plant was connected to the power grid on October 2, 1981 and went into commercial operation on January 15, 1983. It was built as a joint venture by Slovenia and Croatia which were at the time both part of Yugoslavia. The plant has a Westinghouse pressurized water reactor, with a rated thermal capacity of 1,882 thermal megawatts (MWth) and 632 megawatts-electric (MWe). It runs on enriched uranium (2.1-4.3 weight-percent 235U), fuel mass 48.7 t, with 121 fuel elements, demineralized water as the moderator, and 33 bundles of 20 control rods each made of silver, indium and cadmium alloys to regulate power. ... The planned retirement date is January 14, 2023. The decommissioning plan that was ratified by Slovenian and Croatian parliaments schedules the start of disassembly shortly after that, and the taking apart of the plant would last until 2036.
The plant has a Westinghouse pressurized water reactor, with a rated thermal capacity of 1,882 thermal megawatts (MWth) and 632 megawatts-electric (MWe). It runs on enriched uranium (2.1-4.3 weight-percent 235U), fuel mass 48.7 t, with 121 fuel elements, demineralized water as the moderator, and 33 bundles of 20 control rods each made of silver, indium and cadmium alloys to regulate power.
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The planned retirement date is January 14, 2023. The decommissioning plan that was ratified by Slovenian and Croatian parliaments schedules the start of disassembly shortly after that, and the taking apart of the plant would last until 2036.
Pressurized water reactor (PWRs) (also VVER if of Russian design) are generation II nuclear power reactors that use ordinary water under high pressure (superheated water) as coolant and neutron moderator. The primary coolant loop is kept under high pressure to prevent the water from reaching film boiling, hence the name. PWRs are the most common type of power producing reactor and are widely used all over the world. More than 230 of them are in use to generate electric power, and several hundred more for naval propulsion. They were originally designed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for use as a nuclear submarine power plant. Follow-on work was conducted by Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. ... Advantages PWR reactors are very stable due to their tendency to produce less power as temperatures increase, this makes the reactor easier to operate from a stability standpoint. PWR reactors can be operated with a core containing less fissile material than is required for them to go prompt critical. This significantly reduces the chance that the reactor will run out of control and makes PWR designs relatively safe from criticality accidents. Because PWR reactors use enriched uranium as fuel they can use ordinary water as a moderator rather than the much more expensive heavy water as used in a pressurized heavy water reactor. PWR turbine cycle loop is separate from the primary loop, so the water in the secondary loop is not contaminated by radioactive materials. Disadvantages The coolant water must be highly pressurized to remain liquid at high temperatures. This requires high strength piping and a heavy pressure vessel and hence increases construction costs. The higher pressure can increase the consequences of a loss of coolant accident. Most pressurized water reactors cannot be refueled while operating. This decreases the availability of the reactor- it has to go offline for comparably long periods of time (some weeks). The high temperature water coolant with boric acid dissolved in it is corrosive to carbon steel (but not stainless steel), this can cause radioactive corrosion products to circulate in the primary coolant loop. This not only limits the lifetime of the reactor, but the systems that filter out the corrosion products and adjust the boric acid concentration add significantly to the overall cost of the reactor and radiation exposure. Water absorbs neutrons making it necessary to enrich the uranium fuel, which increases the costs of fuel production. If heavy water is used it is possible to operate the reactor with natural uranium, but the production of heavy water requires large amounts of energy and is hence expensive. Because water acts as a neutron moderator it is not possible to build a fast neutron reactor with a PWR design. A reduced moderation water reactor may however achieve breeding ratio greater than unity, though these have disadvantages of their own. Because the reactor produces energy more slowly at higher temperatures, a sudden cooling of the reactor coolant could increase power production until safety systems shut down the reactor (OPΔT trip).
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