Westinghouse has received approval from the NRC for it standard design Gen III+ Advanced Passive 1000 Pressurized Water Reactor, AP 1000, of 1100 MWe.

GE is actively seeking NRC approval for its standardized design Gen III+ Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor, ESBWR producing 1500MWe expecting final approval in 2008.

AREVA is now joining wit Mitsu to produce a standardized design Gen III+ of equivalent power rating, the European Pressurized Water Reactor, EPWR, and thus economic efficiency.

Nuclear Power is reviving in a massive way, around the world. There are now 251 nuclear power reactors being built now out side the USA. The USA is ramping up with 29 reactors seeking Combined Construction and Operating Licenses from the NRC based on the AP and ESBWR. By 2012 these will plants will start pouring concrete and the manufacturers are promising 36 months from first concrete to first power, dramatically reducing initial capital costs. More importantly, reducing the uncertainty of constant expensive delay, and opportunity for anti-Nuke denagogues to gum up the works and drive the Utilities into bankruptcy through stalling, as the reactor is constructed.

The GEN III+ reactors are all much much safer than the present fleet; and can run unattended for a few days. They are designed to require no active systems, pumps, electrical power or operator intervention to shut itself down in the even of an emergency.

The NRC specifications require a Safety rating of a 1x10**-5 years per accident per reactor. These standardized designs all have computed safety factors in the range of 1x10**-6 to 1x 10**-7 safety ratings. Or one to two powers of magnitude safer. Another way of saying this is that the NRC requires no accidents in 10,000 years. The GE is best and rated at 1 accident per 100,000,000 years, but all will be very similar.

Never having computed the Safety rating, as was developed in the Apollo Programs, for the early Nukes was why I started with UCS to oppose Nukes in 1968. This was long before the asses started chanting "No Nukes" without a foggy idea as to why.

To put it in US Nuclear industry in perspective, there are 102 reactors in the US. The last 47 and newest, are significantly larger; and just slightly smaller than the new standardized designs.

The older 53 only generate 30% of the power of the 102. So the 29 programmed for building will represent a sizable upgrade in the amount of clean non-CO2 electrical generation the USA can produce. These clean base load generators will be coming on line just as the PHEVs start pouring out of the auto factories in massive numbers, it would appear.

Lots of clean electricity to recharge the batteries of the Electrified Ground Transport.

There is another reason that these GEN III+ reactors are good ideas. They are the only real capable reactors outside of very specialized military versions that can "...beat swords into plowshares..." and really permanently incinerate and burn up and remove atomic weapon fissionable materials from the face of the Earth.

That is when they take on a load of diluted MOX fuel made from non explosive fissile fuel, mixed with weapons grade fissionable material from old bombs.

OOps!

I had a typo in my post above. The NRC safety rating in one accident per 100,000 years as its Safety Rating is and remains 1x10**-5.

OOps!

I had a typo in my post above. The NRC safety rating in one accident per 100,000 years as its Safety Rating is and remains 1x10**-5.

Stan:

"So the 29 programmed for building will represent a sizable upgrade in the amount of clean non-CO2 electrical generation the USA can produce."

I thought you didn't care about CO2 because global warming is just a commie pinko liberal plot. :)

All 104 (not 102) currently operating in the US were designed to the NRC standards you mentioned. These safety analysis methods (that you incorrectly call safety ratings) predate Apollo. This is remarkable because cars did not have seat belts yet and smoke detectors were not required in homes.

My point here is that the current generation of of nuclear reactors are extremely safe contrary to any fear mongering claims of UCS.

Nuclear power will never be safe.spent fuel cannot be safely stored.There are many great alternatives being discussed elsewhere on this site.Check out the 11 MW Solar Power plant in Spain!