New Reactor Designs
Overview
This issue paper briefly summarizes nuclear reactor designs that are either available or anticipated
to become available in the United States by 2030. Criteria for including reactors are: 1)
participation in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's certification or pre-certification
programs or 2) inclusion under the international Generation IV International Forum (GIF) program
for longer-term reactor development. The U.S. Department of Energy is among the sponsors of the
GIF program. While no detailed technical description of particular reactor designs is included, such
descriptions and schematics are available elsewhere and, when practical, are hyperlinked in the text.
Reactor vendors who put forward new designs anticipate that their designs will meet commercial
market needs including an affordable, competitive construction cost and the usually low operating
costs of commercial nuclear reactors. Such views are not assessed, though a section does identify
public discussion of efforts by the nuclear industry and the U.S. government to improve the
industry's competitive position.1
Existing Reactor Designs and Design Categories
There are now 104 fully licensed nuclear power reactors in the United States though only 103 are
now operational.2 Because each of these reactors is fully licensed and meets national safety
standards, a potential builder might replicate any of these designs for future construction. This is
less likely, however, because existing, operable reactors in the United States were licensed during
or before the 1970s. Technology has progressed and any future construction should incorporate
more advanced designs that better meet today's commercial criteria.
There are four possible exceptions to the preceding statement. Four reactors in the United States
were partially built and still possess valid construction licenses. These reactors are WNP-1
(Washington State), Watt's Bar 2 (Tennessee), and Bellefonte 1 and 2 (Atlanta). Moreover, these
four c