scholarly journals The ecological mechanisms of Acetes blooms as a threat to the security of cooling systems in coastal nuclear power plants

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina An ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Danyun Ou ◽  
Cun Jia ◽  
Weiwen Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Ecological Protection ◽  
Ecological Mechanisms ◽  
Environmental Protection Policies

AbstractRecently, there have been an increasing number of reports on the shutdown of coastal nuclear power plants because of outbreaks of marine organisms, such as jellyfish and fish. These organisms clog the pipes during an outbreak or when they accumulate near nuclear power plants in coastal regions. The safety of nuclear power plants is threatened by Acetes blooms. Thus, based on the physiology and ecology of Acetes, including the biology, auxology, feeding ecology, population dynamics, environmental suitability and effects of nuclear power plant thermal effluents, three hypotheses were proposed by previous studies to explain the ecological mechanisms of an Acetes bloom: (1) the wintering ground hypothesis, (2) the population dynamics hypothesis and (3) the ecosystem dynamics hypothesis. The main content and prevention measures used in previous studies were introduced and reviewed. Ecological protection combined with relevant environmental protection policies and laws in coastal areas are the long-term goals for the management of Acetes blooms.

Guided Waves as an Online Monitoring Technology for Long-Term Operation in Nuclear Power Plants: Experimental Results on a Steam Discharge Pipe

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Cappelli ◽  
Francesco Cordella ◽  
Francesco Bertoncini ◽  
Marco Raugi
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Guided Waves ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Guided Wave ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Term Operation

Guided wave (GW) testing is regularly used for finding defect locations through long-range screening using low-frequency waves (from 5 to 250 kHz). By using magnetostrictive sensors, some issues, which usually limit the application to nuclear power plants (NPPs), can be fixed. The authors have already shown the basic theoretical background and simulation results concerning a real steel pipe, used for steam discharge, with a complex structure. On the basis of such theoretical framework, a new campaign has been designed and developed on the same pipe, and the obtained experimental results are now here presented as a useful benchmark for the application of GWs as nondestructive techniques. Experimental measures using a symmetrical probe and a local probe in different configurations (pulse-echo and pitch-catch) indicate that GW testing with magnetostrictive sensors can be reliably applied to long-term monitoring of NPPs components.

Life Beyond 60 Years: The Importance of Sustaining the Current Fleet of Light Water Reactors in the U.S. and the R&D Needs

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronaldo Szilard ◽  
Hongbin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Light Water Reactors ◽  
Economic Operation ◽  
Significant Interest ◽  
Water Reactors ◽  
The U.S

The current fleet of 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S. began their operation with 40 years operating licenses. About half of these plants have their licenses renewed to 60 years and most of the remaining plants are anticipated to pursue license extension to 60 years. With the superior performance of the current fleet and formidable costs of building new nuclear power plants, there has been significant interest to extend the lifetime of the current fleet even further from 60 years to 80 years. This paper addresses some of the key long term technical challenges and identifies R&D needs related to the long term safe and economic operation of the current fleet.

Research Activities in the European Union on Ageing Management for Long Term Operation of Nuclear Power Plants

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Martin ◽  
Antonio Ballesteros ◽  
Christiane Bruynooghe ◽  
Michel Bie`th
Keyword(s):  
Energy Supply ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Term Operation ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Ageing Management ◽  
The Eu

The energy supply of the future in the EU will be a mix of renewable, fossil and nuclear. There are 145 nuclear power reactors in operation in 15 out of the 27 EU countries, with installed power ∼132 GWe. The age distribution of current nuclear power plants in EU is such that in 2010 most of them will have passed 20-years and approximately 25% of them 30 years of age. The decrease of energy supply from nuclear generated electricity can not always be compensated in a reliable and economical way within a short time span. For this situation utilities may be keen to upgrade the reactor output and /or to ask their regulatory bodies for longer term operation. Under the research financed in the Euratom part of the Research Directorate (RTD) of the European Commission several projects explicitly address the safe long term operation of nuclear power plants (NULIFE, LONGLIFE) and the topics proposed in the 2010 call explicitly address issues concerning component ageing, in particular non metallic components, i.e. instrumentation and cables (I&C) and concrete ageing. This paper presents an overview of the plans for long term operation (LTO) of nuclear power plants in the EU. Special emphasis is given on research activities on component ageing management and long term operation issues related to safety.

Long-term thermal aging performance of welding structures in primary coolant pipes for nuclear power plants

2020 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 107793
Author(s):  
Minyu Fan ◽  
Mingya Chen ◽  
Min Yu ◽  
Wenqing Jia ◽  
Yuanfei Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Aging ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Primary Coolant ◽  
Aging Performance
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