# A Global Review of PWR Nuclear Power Plants
## 3 Discussion
### Under Construction PWR Nuclear Power Plants  
After studying the current situation of the PWR design, it is convenient to analyze the international expansion plans of these four nuclear powers, studying different aspects of the future forecast of the PWR design: (i) Generation, (ii) Electrical output range; (iii) number of reactors; (iv) the parameter UCF (Table 6). To carry out the analysis comparing companies or countries, a new parameter is necessary. Thus, the _global under construction factor_ (GUCF) is defined as the sum of the UCF for a specific set of designs grouped: (i) by country, (ii) by design or (iii) by company. Based on the GUCF parameter, of the 52 nuclear reactors currently under construction, 42 will have a PWR design, representing a GUCF of 80%. In the case of the countries where the PWR design has been implemented the most (United States, France, Russia and China), the GUCF is 63%. The only PWR construction projects with designs different from those of the four powers are: (i) APR-1400: four units in the United Arab Emirates and four units in Korea (country of origin of the design); and (ii) Konvoi: one unit in Brazil. Thus, the APR-1400 is, along with EPR, HPR1000 and VVER-1200, the most ambitious Generation III PWR design under construction. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Design/Overall**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Generation**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Electrical Output**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Number of**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Under Construction**} \\  & & **(MWe)** & **Reactors (\(n\))** & **Factor (\%)** \\ \hline
**UNITED STATES** & & & & \\ \hline _Westinghouse_ & & & & \\ AP1000 & Generation III & 1150 & 2 & 3.84 \\
**FRANCE** & & & & \\ _Framatome_ & & & & \\ EPR & Generation III & 1650 & 4 & 7.69 \\
**CHINA** & & & & \\ _China General_ & & & & \\ _Nuclear Power_ & & & & \\ ACPR-1000 & Generation III & 1150 & 2 & 3.84 \\ _China National_ & & & & \\ _Nuclear Corporation_ & & & & \\ CNP-1000 & Generation III & 1000 & 2 & 3.84 \\ ACP-1000 & Generation III & 1000 & 2 & 3.84 \\ HPR1000 & Generation III & 1150 & 5 & 9.61 \\
**RUSSIA** & & & & \\ _Rosatom_ & & & & \\ VVER-1000 & Generation II+ & 1000 & 7 & 13.46 \\ VVER-1200 & Generation III+ & 1200 & 9 & 17.30 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: United States, France, Russia, and China PWR designs under construction. Figure 15: Chinese PWR (CGN and CNNC) operating in the world. As previously seen in the evolution graph of the different PWR designs (Figure 11), the design evolves within Generation II+ and Generation III+ as a safer and more efficient design, developed in different variants: (i) AP1000; (ii) EPR; (iii) HPR1000 [52]; and (iv) VVER-1000 and VVER-1200. Based on the results obtained analyzing the situation of the PWR reactors under construction (Table 6), it can be affirmed that the Russian variants are those that have UCF 13.46% in the case of the VVER-1000, and 17.30% in the case of the VVER-1200. This makes GUCF higher than 30%. Therefore, they maintain their international expansion mechanism, without neglecting the need to cover the internal demand for nuclear reactors. In the case of the North American and French Generation III PWR designs, AP1000 and EPR, they have lost the relevant role that their predecessor designs (Figure 11) had during the 20 th century, obtaining GUCF of 3.84% and 7.69%, respectively. Finally, it is the different Chinese PWR design variants that undergo a fundamental change in their expansion mechanism. These variants go from having a GOF of over 10% in operational PWR reactors around the world today to having a GUCF of over 21% in operating nuclear reactors in the near future. The GUCF of the Russian and Chinese PWR designs under construction is close to 50%. Therefore, unlike what happened with PWR reactors in operation, 50% of PWR reactors under construction are of Asian origin.