Near-Term Deployment of Advanced Light Water Reactors

New nuclear power plants incorporating advanced light water reactor (ALWR) technology must overcome a number of regulatory, economic, technical, and social barriers prior to licensing, construction and successful start-up. Many of these barriers can be addressed through technical products and targeted tools that minimize deployment risks. EPRI’s Advanced Nuclear Technology (ANT) Program has been initiated to complement — and help accelerate — industry activities aimed at enabling and building confidence in new nuclear plant deployment through coordinated work on cross cutting issues. The program is built around three core elements: transferring technology to new plant designs, developing effective tools for performance management, and providing robust planning and evaluation tools for new plant deployment. This paper discusses the projects EPRI is working on with industry to enable and build confidence in new nuclear plant deployment.