AP600 Design Objectives

The primary design objective of the AP600 was to provide a greatly simplified plant design that meets NRC regulatory requirements, meets or exceeds NRC safety goals and those of the ALWR Utility Requirements Document, and addresses past safety issues, while being economically competitive with other power generation systems over the full operating cycle. This objective is to be met using experience-based components so that plant prototype or demonstration models are not required. Simplification of plant systems, combined with increased plant operating margins, reduces the actions required by the operator in the event of an accident. The AP600 design requires no operator actions to maintain a safe configuration following a design basis accident. The design target for the AP600 is to technically support elimination of the emergency planning zone beyond the site boundary. Simpler systems, combined with the U.S. licensing reforms of 10CFR52, increase the licensing certainty of the AP600 in international markets.

Implementation of the passive safety features greatly reduces the operation, maintenance and testing requirements of the AP600. The AP600 has been designed to have a shorter construction schedule through the use of modular construction techniques that are similar to those applied in ship construction. The construction design objective is a 36-month schedule from first concrete pour to the fuel load. An added benefit of this approach is that a significant portion of the quality assurance inspections can be completed in the factory before the modules are delivered to the construction site.