AHPR1000: Simplified, Intelligent and Environment-Friendly Advanced Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract Nuclear power plays an essential part in the future low-carbon energy mix. However, the current Gen III+ nuclear power plants are generally not cost competitive, and are required to be more environmentally friendly. The emerging technologies such as intelligent technologies are applied in nuclear power plant in a cautious and slow pace. Taking the above into account, AHPR1000 is developed as an upgraded and innovative model on the basis of HPR1000 by the China National Nuclear Corporation, which aims to provide a mainstream clean energy solution around the year of 2030. Inheriting the combined active and passive safety design philosophy of HPR1000, AHPR1000 develops three major passive safety systems to deal with design basic accidents, and a set of active system with minimal power supply and cooling chain to cope with the design extension conditions, which satisfies the overall safety goal with the lowest cost. Other design features such as a single-layer containment providing protection against commercial aircraft crash, a compact nuclear island layout, and the massive modular design are incorporated. Application of digital and intelligent technologies endow AHPR1000 with the characteristics of ubiquitous perception, centralized control, predictive maintenance, intelligent decision-making, and mobile service, reduction of operation and maintenance workload, to achieve the target of “unattended monitoring, less-attended on duty”. By minimizing environmental emissions and minimizing resource consumption, AHPR1000 is environmentally friendly nuclear power plant without any adverse impact on people and the environment throughout the lifetime of construction, operation, maintenance.