Development of the AP600 plant design

In a joint effort to keep nuclear power as an energy option, in 1986 the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) initiated technology programs in support of Advanced Light Water Reactors (ALWRs), including a Westinghouse program on the advanced passive 600 MWe (AP600) pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant concept which has been developed into the AP600 plant featuring a simplified reactor coolant loop, passive safety systems, and modular construction, described in this paper.