The objective of CAREM project is the design and construction of the first nuclear power reactor of 100% Argentine design.
Unlike research or experimental reactors, which have purposes such as the production of radioisotopes, research tasks, materials testing, among others, a “power reactor” has as its main purpose the generation of electric power.
According to well-informed sources on the CAREM project, this reactor belongs to the group of the so-called SMRs, an acronym for Small Modular Reactor, a type of nuclear reactor with a simplified smaller design, that by incorporating highly engineered solutions, optimizes its safety, while reducing construction and installation costs, making them more accessible and versatile than traditional large power plants.
The first version of the CAREM reactor is currently under construction. and will generate 32 MWe, a power capable of supplying a population of about 120,000 inhabitants.
The degree of progress is significant in its main lines of work: the civil building is 77% complete, the pressure vessel (which is manufactured at IMPSA’s plant in Mendoza) is 71% complete, the steam generators are 55% complete, and the fuel elements are 60% complete (both in charge of the company CONUAR), among other works that make up a degree of overall physical progress of the whole CAREM Project in the order of the 62%.
It is worth mentioning that there are currently about 80 SMR (small modular reactor) project designs in the world with different degrees of evolution, and CAREM is one of the only three projects actually under construction (together with one in China and another one in Russia.)
Argentine Components and Engineering.
CAREM’s design is 100% developed in the country and, at the same time, authorized sources inform that there is a strategic decision that at least 70% of the reactor’s components and engineering will be developed in the country, for which purpose they have been working together with current and potential supplier in order to ensure the supply of components that meet the high-quality standards required by the nuclear industry. For example, we are working together with ADIMRA (Asociación de Industriales Metalúrgicos de la República Argentina) so that companies associated to this entity are in a position to supply components and systems for the reactor.
What is its operating system like?
Broadly speaking, CAREM has the primary system (the circuit that keeps the reactor core cooled), the steam generators (part of the secondary circuit, which is the one connected to the electrical generator) and the control mechanisms (whose function is precisely, to control the reactor’s power level). Both systems are integrated in a single self-pressurized pressure vessel.
This CAREM operating system results in some characteristics such as a large water inventory, which guarantees core cooling; the requirement of much less piping and other components than a traditional reactor (due to the aforementioned integration), which increases safety levels by reducing eventual failure points, the circulation of the primary circuit by natural convection, without the need for pumps, passive safety systems, i.e., they do not require external power supply to come into action if necessary, but act automatically by the effect of variations such as pressure and temperature (even without the need for operator intervention which reduces the margin of human error).
What is the potential capacity?
Our sources inform us that this type of reactor is suitable for supplying electricity to isolated regions or regions far from large urban centers, even without the need to be online within the interconnected system. They can also provide electricity to industrial poles, a way of making their consumption independent from domestic supply.
On the other hand, they have other functionalities, such as the possibility of using the heat generated to desalinate seawater or for heating, hydrogen production, among others.
A project with modular characteristics.
Modularity is a feature that allows the installation of a plant with an initial “x” number of modules that could start operating in a shorter time than a traditional nuclear power plant, which would allow a shorter payback cycle of the initial investment, providing the possibility of adding more modules in later stages, thus increasing the total power available.
CAREM’s modularity offers the possibility of manufacturing several of its components in series, thus reducing the investment cost; as well as the possibility of projecting multi-modular plants in which facilities and services (building, turbine, control room, etc) are shared, also allowing to optimize the cost per MW installed.
It should be stated clear that CAREM is not a mobile reactor There are some mobile installations (for example, Russia has a floating power plant which basically consists of two reactors mounted on a barge, with which remote areas of its territory are fed) but this mobility is rather an exception that responds to a specific need (in this case, of the Russians) , but it is not part of the specific functionalities of SMRs .
Is CAREM exportable?
Export is precisely one of the objectives, which seeks to consolidate CAREM as a high value-added export product.
It is important to take into account that Argentina has more than 72 years of nuclear experience for peaceful purposes, having exported 5 research reactors (two to Peru, one to Algeria, one to Egypt and one to Australia), while INVAP, a company from Río Negro, is currently developing another research reactor in the Netherlands.
The great experience and track record allows the country to be in a position to achieve, in a world increasingly interested in developing nuclear energy as an alternative to replace the use of coal and other fossil fuels, a high degree of receptiveness of the 100% Argentine nuclear power reactor. Although one of the characteristics of nuclear reactors in general, and SMRs in particular, is the possibility of “customizing” (adapting) the generation capacity to the needs of each potential buyer. Work is underway to develop a commercial version of the CAREM that will be capable of generating about 120 MWe per module (i.e., four times more than the first version currently under construction).
What is the price of the CAREM nuclear reactor?
We have been informed that the CNE has been working on the development of a commercial model, with the aim of achieving a competitive cost for interested countries and that although it is still at an early stage, the “selling price”, is expected to be in the order of u$d 4,800 per KW installed for a plant with four modules of 120 Mwe of electricity each.
CAREM’s environmental impact
It is important to understand the urgent need for the world to replace fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil), which are mainly responsible for climate change due to the damage they cause to the Earth’s atmosphere, and which together account for about 70% of the world’s energy matrix.
In this context, the world is becoming more and more dependent on electricity and faced with the continuous exponential growth in the number of inhabitants, nuclear energy is presented as the most consistent and reliable alternative among the base energies (i.e., those capable of generating 24/7 on a permanent basis) to face the urgent energy transition that the world is in need of.
Other baseload energy such as hydropower depends on the geography of each region, the so-called renewables are intermittent and depend on weather condition, so they are considered “cutting edge” energies and complementary to the baseload ones, but it is not possible to base a country’s energy matrix on them.
