ABSTRACT
The boiling water reactors (BWRs) nuclear plant, like the pressurized water reactor (PWR), has its origins in the technology developed in the 1950s for the United States Navy nuclear submarine program. The Vallecitos plant confirmed that BWR plants could successfully and safely produce electricity for a grid. The major difference between the PWR and BWR is that the latter is a direct cycle nuclear system with heat generation occurring in the fuel region and water boiling in the envelope of the fuel bundles. The BWR design has been simplified in two key areas: reactor systems and containment design. General Electric selected the BWR as the most promising nuclear power concept because of its inherent advantages in control and design simplicity and established an atomic power equipment business in 1955 to offer it commercially. Aside from its heat source, the BWR generation cycle is substantially similar to that found in fossil-fueled power plants.
