LESSONS FOR VERY SMALL MODULAR REACTORS (vSMRs) FROM SLOWPOKE 2 FLEET DEPLOYMENT, OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, REFUELING, AND DECOMMISSIONING

Abstract

Over 46 years, seven SLOWPOKE-2 reactors were deployed across Canada and one in Jamaica. This fleet of identical reactors have utilized numerous practices often proposed as novel approaches for vSMRs; this paper looks at these practices to highlight their past and current use in Canada to enable this valuable experience to support future fleet deployments of vSMRs. In particular, we discuss licensing (e.g., use of common facility safety analysis report and grouped regulatory hearings), reactor safety (e.g., inherent safety that supports remote unattended operations and no emergency management zones), reactor maintenance (e.g., reactor operators/owners are not certified to perform nuclear maintenance activities), refuelling (e.g., transportation of complete fuel cores), and decommissioning (e.g., rapid decommissioning under an Operating License). While SMRs are often viewed through the lens of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), this paper takes a different approach to enable the reader to consider vSMRs through the lens of research reactors.