The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has announced the official beginning of the construction of the worldтАЩs 1st commercial Small Modular Reactor (SMR) named тАШLinglong OneтАЩ at the Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant in ChinaтАЩs Hainan Province.
Key Points:
i.Originally CNNC aimed to start building the project in 2017 but it was delayed due to regulatory issues.
ii.Linglong One, also known as the ACP100, was the 1st SMR that was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2016.
iii.Each unit of it has a power generating capacity of 125 megawatts (MW) and once completed, it might increase up to 1 billion kilowatt-hours, thereby catering to more than 500,000 households in China.
iv.The Linglong One was designed to complement the CNNC’s larger third-generation тАШHualong OneтАЩ reactors, which has a generation capacity of 1,170 MW.
v.China plans to use the SMR to provide urban heating in the north and run desalination facilities along the countryтАЩs coastal line.
About Small Modular Reactor (SMR):
i.The World Nuclear Association defines SMRs as nuclear reactors with a capacity equivalent to 300 Megawatt electric (MWe) or less, designed with modular technology using module factory fabrication, pursuing economies of series production and short construction times.
ii.The IAEA defines тАШsmall reactorsтАЩ capacity under 300 MWe, and ‘medium reactors’ as capacity up to 700 MWe.
iii.SMRs are cheaper and quicker to build than traditional reactors, they could be deployed in remote regions, even in ships and aircraft. Through the тАШmodularтАЩ feature, the SMR could be shipped by container from the factory and installed in any location.
iv.SMRs could minimize the consumption of fossil fuels in China and also could promote energy conservation and carbon emission reduction.
Recent Related News:
As per the report of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), titled тАШComplicit: 2020 Global Nuclear SpendingтАЩ, the worldwide Nuclear-armed countriesтАЩ overall spending on atomic weapon arsenals in 2020 was increased by $1.4 billion (1.2-billion-euro) to $72.6 billion from $71.2 billion of 2019.
About International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
Establishment – 1957
Headquarters – Vienna, Austria
Director General┬а– Rafael Mariano Grossi (Argentina)
Total Members – 173
