KERENA an average power passive safety boiling water reactor.

The nuclear revival has prompted manufacturers to relaunch their research, qualification and development work on new models designed to meet the safety, operating and economic criteria assigned to the 3rd generation of power reactors.

The Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), the world's second most common nuclear power plant after the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), is the subject of a basic article [BN 3 130v2] presenting the design, operation and safety of BWRs currently in service.

The design of KERENA™ marks an important evolution: while drawing on proven technology and operating feedback, it meets superior safety features and the most stringent requirements of nuclear power plant operators, particularly in Europe.

The new 3rd generation power plants coming onto the market are high-power units (1,500 to 1,700 MWe), such as AREVA's EPR (see [BN 3 102] ), or medium-power units (1,100 to 1,250 MWe), such as Toshiba-Westinghouse's AP 1000, both of which are pressurized light water reactors (PWRs).

KERENA™, a medium-power plant (1,250 MWe) developed by AREVA, perfectly illustrates the ability of the BWR to meet the level of requirements expected of this 3rd generation.

KERENA™ is the product of German industry's early innovations and experience in the boiling water process, complemented by AREVA's extensive design and experimental validation work, resulting in:

• simplification of systems and equipment, to achieve competitiveness with the largest reactors;

• the integration of passive safety systems, fully autonomous and requiring no external source of energy or information, capable of putting and maintaining the reactor in a safe state in the highly unlikely event of a serious accident –. These systems operate in parallel with redundant active safety systems, and independently of them. It should be remembered that passive safety has been the subject of major studies for many years, particularly for small reactors intended for isolated areas or developing countries....