1350–1520 MWe
Net power generation range
5
Countries licensed for operation
40
Reactors currently operating
GEH’s BWR portfolio
Built on a legacy of safer and efficient operation
GE’s history of boiling water reactor (BWR) technology dates to the 1950’s. In 1957, the company’s Vallecitos boiling water reactor was the first privately owned and operated nuclear power plant to deliver significant quantities of electricity to a public utility grid. Over the next several decades, more than 60 GE BWRs went into operation with the first Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) entering operation in 1996. GEH’s Generation III+ reactor, the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) was certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2014.
GEH’s portfolio of modular reactors offer the safest and most efficient nuclear energy generation capability available. Plus, we offer a full range of new and existing nuclear plant services to help you achieve greater project development, execution, and maintenance.
Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR)
The ABWR is the foundation of GEH’s nuclear reactor portfolio. The first Generation III nuclear plant operating, it offers the benefits of a combined 20+ reactor-years of safe, successful operation
Features and benefits
Technology, schedule, and cost confidence
High certainty of delivery cost and schedule based on experience gleaned from delivering past units. This greatly lowers investment risks to new owners.
Long life
Designed to operate for at least 60 years.
Enhanced construction
Modularized for quick construction and faster time to operation; capable of further uprates.
Economical
Significantly lower staffing and maintenance costs/kWh than current Generation II reactors.
Radiation reduction
High integrity fuel, improved water chemistry; lower radwaste and occupational exposure.
Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR)
Built upon the ABWR’s proven technology, the ESBWR achieves even greater simplicity in design. Using natural circulation, the ESBWR has 25% fewer pumps and mechanical drives than existing active safety plants.
Features and benefits
Created to be even simpler and safer
High degree of delivery cost and schedule based on experience gleaned from delivering past units. This greatly lowers investment risks to new owners.
Heat transfer
Residual heat is transferred to the atmosphere
Economical
11 systems eliminated from previous designs
Simplified configuration
25% of pumps, valves, and motors eliminated
High capacity
1520 MWe
Environmentally conscious
Saves 7.5 million metric tons of CO2 per year
Operationally approved
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified design since 2014
Further reading
Additional BWR Information
Videos
Featured ESBWR videos
ESBWR: Safer. Simpler. Smarter.
Discover how the world’s safest reactor, the ESBWR, provides improved safety, faster construction and lowers operating costs.
ESBWR: Culmination of 60 Years of Experience
See how the safest nuclear reactor design in the world is projected to have the lowest operating, maintenance, and staffing costs per MW hour of any reactor technology available today.
NRC Grants License to DTE Energy
DTE Energy receives the first-ever ESBWR-based combined construction and operating license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
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