Webinar: “Small Modular Reactors and their future”
Date & Time:
21 April 2021 (Wednesday) immediately after the AGM of the Nuclear Division, 6:45 - 8:00 pm nominal
Venue:
Zoom Webinar
Deadline of Application:
14 April 2021
Programme Highlights
Continuous drive for safety improvements and economy of scale have progressively led to the use of large nuclear power plants that in turn has led to cost challenges in certain applications. To address the situation, the world has actively reconsidering the use of small nuclear power plants. The webinar presents the small modular reactors and their technology, and considers their adoption as a possible solution to sustain the growth of nuclear power particularly in the west.
Speaker
Ir Richard Fung studied Mechanical Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. He joined the National Nuclear Corporation in Britain after study, where he led a team of scientists and engineers and collaborated with counterparts in Europe, to solve technical issues in relation to the design and development of commercial nuclear power reactors. He later joined CLP working mainly in technical and managerial matters to support the corporate nuclear power business of the Company until his retirement. He served in the nuclear power industry for over 30 years. He is also a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Mathematician.
Registration and Enquiry
The seminar is free of charge and prior registration is required. The number of participants will be limited to 200 and applicants will be served on a first-come-first-serve basis with priority given to the members of Nuclear Division. For registration, please submit online application via the following weblink: https://forms.gle/yuT4gnFtNhRmjXai9. Successful applicants will be notified by email. For enquiries, please contact us by email at nuclear@ne.hkie.org.hk .
Disclaimer
All information and views expressed by speakers and in their conference materials do not reflect the official opinion and position of HKIE. No responsibility is accepted by the HKIE or their publisher for such information and views including their accuracy, correctness and veracity.
Report An on-line seminar with in person participants and on-line was organized by the Nuclear Division on “Small Modula Reactors and their future” on 21 April 2021. The on-line seminar was presented to over 60 participants by Ir Richard Fung who had worked in the nuclear power industry for over 30 years.
At the beginning, Ir Fung first briefly gave the definition of a small modular reactor (SMR) and explained to the audience to the basis of nuclear power before moving on to the issues with current nuclear power plants. The continuous drive for safety improvements and economy of scale have progressively led to the use of large nuclear power plants, however these large plants in turn have brought problems to funding, construction management, equipment supply chain and electricity price.
To address the situation, the world has actively reconsidering the use of SMRs and they have been actively developed for commercialisation. With each module with an electrical capacity of less than 300 MWe, SMRs can be in form in single units or in groups for power generation. The modular reactors could overcome the problems faced by large scale reactors, with better quality assurance due to modular construction in factories, better project affordability with incremental investment for each reactor and better adaptability to the market with smaller capacities. The current SMR concepts would require much development to become practical and economical designs to realise full benefit potentials and to serve as the solution to sustain the growth of nuclear power. Continuous effort would be required for leading SMRs as well to maintain simplicity at the practical design level and to design for efficient manufacture at all plant aspects, in order to facilitate regulatory approval and utility deployment.
On behalf of the Nuclear Division, we wish to express our sincere gratitude to Ir Richard Fung for providing this enlightening on-line seminar to our members.
Prepared by Ms. Anthea Fung