Modern Technology Applied in Advanced BWR (ABWR)

The Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) has been developed by an international team of BWR manufacturers to respond to worldwide utility needs in the 1990's. Major objectives of the ABWR program are design simplification; improved safety and reliability; reduced construction, fuel and operating costs; improved maneuverability; and reduced radiation exposure and radwaste. The ABWR is the result of the continuing evolution of the BWR, incorporating state-of-the-art technology and improvements based on worldwide experience, and extensive design and test and development programs. The ABWR incorporates the best proven features from BWR designs in Japan, the United States and Europe. The many new features are seen to provide superiority in terms of performance characteristics and economics relative to current LWR designs. The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. recently announced the selection of General Electric Co., Hitachi, Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. to design and construct two lead Advanced Boiling Water Reactors as Unit 6 and 7 at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Station. Construction is scheduled for the early 1990's, and commercial operation planned for 1996 for Unit 6 and 1998 for Unit 7.