A research team led by GE Hitachi (GEH) Nuclear has tested a modular steel-concrete composite that could significantly reduce the cost of building nuclear reactor containment structures. The Diaphragm Plate Steel Composite (DPSC) samples were tested at US Purdue University’s Bowen Laboratory in Lafayette, Indiana. The new composite is one of three advanced construction technologies that the US Department of Energy (DOE) is exploring to reduce nuclear construction costs by up to 10%.
The DPSC design has several advantages over traditional steel concrete composite techniques, such as reinforcing concrete with two continuous steel plates connected using adjoining plates with circular concrete flow holes.
The steel wall modules can be fabricated in a shop and shipped to the construction site while site preparations are underway. The various modules are then assembled on site and filled with concrete, leading to faster assembly and installation reducing labour costs and the project schedule.
The modules can also be manufactured to have different plate material on either side of a wall to better meet certain corrosion requirements in nuclear power plants. During installation, the modules can be welded together end-to-end or stacked vertically for improved design flexibility and faster quality control inspections.
The Purdue researchers filled the modular plates with concrete to simulate a reactor containment wall and subjected the structure to various loading conditions to mimic real-life situations a reactor building might experience, such as an earthquake. DOE said the small-scale demonstration was a success and cleared the way for the advanced construction technology to be used in future demonstration projects.
“The DPSC system tests at Purdue exceeded our expectations,” said Luke Voss, programme manager at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). “We are very excited and enthusiastic about the use of this construction technology to help save time and money in the deployment of new nuclear reactors.”
Sean Sexstone, GEH Executive Vice President, Advanced Nuclear, noted: “The successful design, fabrication and testing of DPSC modules demonstrates the potential of this advanced fabrication and construction technology to lead to cost savings and improved project schedules in the deployment of small modular reactors.”
The data collected during the small-scale demonstration will be used to support licensing of the modules for use in future reactor containment construction. DOE’s National Reactor Innovation Centre (NRIC) is currently evaluating a proposal from GEH to build a portion of a reactor containment building using the DPSC design for the walling system to further test the technology.
The demonstration would also implement digital twin technologies on the civil structure and non-destructive evaluation techniques that were developed in the original phase of the project. GEH plans to use the DPSC technique for its first four units of the BWXR-300 small modular reactor planned for construction in Ontario, Canada.
