Modular Offshore Nuclear Platform Assembly for Faster Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing nuclear power plant designs face challenges with high construction costs, long project durations, site-specific variations, and difficulties in standardizing site engineering and deployment, which are addressed by incorporating small modular reactors (SMRs) into manufactured nuclear plants (MNPs) that are assembled in shipyards and deployed offshore.
Innovation Solution
The integration of SMRs into MNPs involves standardized, modular construction in shipyards, allowing for the assembly of offshore nuclear power units that can be floated to marine environments, utilizing cellular lattice support structures and low-profile aircraft impact shields, enabling secure and efficient power generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional stick-build construction processes are used for nuclear power plants, then site-specific customization is achieved, but construction costs increase and project durations extend
Solution Approach 1:
The nuclear power plant is divided into modular components that can be pre-assembled in shipyards and then deployed to sites. This segmentation allows standardized modules to be manufactured efficiently while maintaining adaptability through modular configuration, resolving the contradiction between customization and construction speed.
Solution Approach 2:
Modular components are pre-assembled and prepared in shipyards before final deployment to the nuclear site. This preliminary action enables standardized manufacturing processes to be completed in advance, reducing on-site construction time while maintaining site-specific adaptability through careful planning and customization of modules before deployment.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional stick-build construction processes are used, then site-specific design requirements are met, but construction costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the plant into standardized modules, the invention enables economies of scale in manufacturing while maintaining site-specific design capabilities. Modules can be customized for different sites through configuration rather than complete redesign, reducing costs while meeting local requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The modular design creates universal components that can be adapted to multiple site configurations. A core set of standardized modules can serve different site-specific requirements through various assembly configurations, reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining design flexibility.
3Productivity
If modular construction in shipyards is used, then construction time is reduced, but deployment complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
While segmentation into modules enables faster construction through parallel manufacturing, it introduces deployment complexity. The invention manages this by designing modules with standardized interfaces and assembly procedures that simplify the deployment process despite the increased number of components.
Solution Approach 2:
Preliminary assembly and testing of modules in shipyards before deployment reduces on-site complexity. Modules are prepared and validated in advance, allowing for simpler and more straightforward deployment operations at the final site, thus managing the complexity introduced by modularization.
4Area of stationary object
If manufactured nuclear plants are deployed offshore, then land footprint is minimized, but environmental exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention converts the potential harm of environmental exposure into a benefit by using the marine environment's inexhaustible supply of coolant water for thermal management. The offshore location provides both minimal land footprint and favorable cooling conditions, transforming environmental exposure from a risk to an operational advantage.
Data Source
AI summary
The systems and methods generally include a nuclear power plant unit assembled in a shipyard from a plurality of structural modules, each of the structural modules having manufactured components for use in power production when moored or fixed to a floor at least one of in and proximal to at least one of an offshore marine environment, a river environment and a coastal marine environment. The nuclear power plant unit is subdivided into at least one arrangement of structural modules that includes an electrical interface for one of transmitting electrical power generated by the nuclear unit and powering a system of the unit, a communications interface for communications internal or external to the unit, a user interface that is configured to permit a user to access a system of the unit, and a network interface for data communications to or from the unit.