On 17 December 2009, the National Law 26566/2009 declared of national interest, inter alia, the design, construction and start-up of CAREM prototype, establishing a special regime. CNEA was entrusted to complete these tasks. The Preliminary Safety Analysis Report and the Quality Manual were presented to the Argentinean Regulatory Authority in 2009.

In 2010 the ARN issued a new procedure for the licensing of prototype NPPs. Information is being provided to and analyzed by the regulatory body according to this new procedure. The Universidad Tecnologica National — Facultad Regional Avellaneda has performed the Environmental Impact Study of CAREM reactor prototype and it was presented to the authorities of Province of Buenos Aires in December 2012.

Site activities such as soil studies and environmental analyses have been performed. The construction of a high-pressure and high-temperature rig for testing the innovative HCRD mechanism has been finished. This rig can also be adapted for testing the structural behavior of the FA. In 2013 the ARN and the province of Buenos Aires issued the necessary permits allowing the start of prototype construction. The construction of CAREM prototype started in February 2014. Contracts and agreements are being taking with different Argentinean stakeholders to perform detail engineering. In 2013 the construction of the RPV was granted to a local supplier.

16.2 Future trends

The CAREM project is the main R&D project in Argentina and in the future it will lead the activities related to SMRs in the country. The first step of this project is the construction of the prototype of about 27 MWe (CAREM 25). The following steps consider the prototype operation and the commercial modules’ development.

For the commercial modules’ development, the economic aspects are very important. CAREM power was initially fixed at 15 MWe but the prototype power was increased to achieve a better economic performance. In general the economy of size can be use to improve the competitiveness of a given reactor configuration. But there are technical and economic constraints that limit the maximum economical size of a given concept. In integrated primary system reactors the size of the reactor pressure vessel is a relevant one. The CAREM concept economy was analyzed using a very advanced tool and two alternatives were evaluated for the primary system flow rate (natural circulation and assisted circulation). Below 150 MWe, the natural convection option is preferred. But over that power level, the size and cost of the RPV are outside the acceptable range so the forced convection option is preferable. The maximum power achievable using pumps is about 300 MWe.

The development of a natural circulation commercial module of about 100 MWe is foreseen as the next step. This module will better benefit from the experience developed with CAREM prototype design, engineering, licensing, construction and operation while incorporating the economic improvements arising from the economy of size. The construction of the first CAREM commercial unit at the province of Formosa is under consideration. Sitting and module optimal size studies are ongoing.

A further step considers the development of a forced convection module of larger power. Different options could be considered to assist flow circulation in CAREM concept. CAREM configuration has many similarities with BWRs and the use of jet pumps was preliminary considered (Delmastro et al., 2006). In integrated primary system reactors an annular space is available in the down-comer below the steam generators and the jet pumps could be located there. Another option is the use of internal centrifugal canned pumps located in the lower plenum of the reactor pressure vessel. But as primary system natural circulation precludes the loss of flow accident, the use of forced circulation must take into account the potential new requirements over the thermal margins evaluation and the safety systems.

16.6 Sources of further information and advice

The International Atomic Energy Agency every year produces many technical documents related to nuclear power energy and particularly nuclear reactors and SMRs. Many of them include information related to SMR research and development and deployment in Argentina (IAEA, 1989, 2002, 2004, 2006).