scholarly journals Licensing Renewed

2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (10) ◽  
pp. 26-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Mintz Testa

This article reviews that for the first time in a generation, utilities are starting the regulatory process to build nuclear reactors. There has been a virtual moratorium on new nuclear power plants in the United States during the past generation, and it has many causes. But one significant factor in the industry's decline was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing process. There are now dozens of applications being submitted and approved for 20-year license renewals for established nuclear power plants. But before the nuclear power industry truly can be said to be reborn, new reactors must be constructed. The new rules allow for an early site permit and for a separate combined construction and operating license. Although the commission invited the nuclear power industry to test the two new processes when they were first announced, no company volunteered. One of the thorniest technical issues faced by the early applicants so far involves a new way of calculating, for a specific plant site, the ground motion that would result from a seismic event. When older plants were designed and built, the best available technique for these calculations was deterministic.

Heritage ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 2054-2080
Author(s):  
Dirk H. R. Spennemann

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the German nuclear power industry came under considerable socio-political pressure from the growing environmental and anti-nuclear movement. As part of a diversified public relations strategy, the Kraftwerk Union (KWU, later Siemens) as the main manufacturer of nuclear power plants distributed pre-printed QSL cards to amateur radio enthusiasts. These cards carried images of the latest nuclear power plants built by KWU. This paper examines the history, iconography and distribution of these QSL cards in the context of the heritage of the German nuclear power industry. It is the first study of its kind to examine the heritage significance of QSL cards.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5270
Author(s):  
SungSig Bang ◽  
SangYun Park

The Korean Government has been implementing a nuclear phase-out policy since 2017. Nuclear power plants accounted for 30.0% of the total power generation in 2016; this figure fell to 25.9% at the end of 2019, and the average Capacity Factor (CF) of a nuclear power plant approximately dropped from 89.1% to 69.2%. The nuclear phase-out policy presents severe consequences for the sustainable management of the nuclear power industry. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of a decrease in the nuclear capacity factor under the nuclear phase-out policy on the depreciation cost per unit using the Straight-Line Method (SLM) and Decelerated Depreciation Method (DDM) and to provide recommendations from a sustainable management perspective. The results show that the decrease in CF of nuclear power plants has a negative impact on sustainable development of the nuclear power industry. DDM is more beneficial than the SLM during this initial stage of depreciation under the nuclear phase-out policy. In addition, in the early stages of projects or immediately after attracting large-scale investments, DDM can offer more positive signs for stockholders by calculating a smaller net loss or a higher net profit.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-140
Author(s):  
Jung-Wun Kim ◽  
Chan-Geun Park

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Korea are required to be maintained using a defense in-depth approach to prevent leakage of radioactive substances outside the plant and allow safe shutdown in the event of a fire. Periodic testing must be conducted to ensure that the fire protection facilities perform as required by the laws for various nuclear reactor types. In June 2017, for the first time in Korea, a nuclear plant, Kori Unit 1, was permanently shut down. It was prepared for decommissioning in accordance with the fire protection regulations imposed by the regulatory body. However, a standard protocol is necessary for systematically establishing the fire protection program for decommissioning of NPPs in the future. Therefore, the nuclear legal systems of countries with many operating nuclear power plants, such as the United States, Japan, Canada, and various European countries, were reviewed and guidelines for establishing a fire protection program for decommissioning NPPs was suggested; the fire protection requirements stated by Reg Guide 1.191 (Decommissioning fire protection program for NPPs during decommissioning and permanent shutdown) were used as a model. Suggestions for establishing legal regulations to optimize fire protection programs and secure basic technology for decommissioning NPPs were also made.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Philip Andrews-Speed

Abstract China has the third largest fleet of nuclear power plants in the world, totalling more than 45 GWe at the end of 2019. With the current high rate of growth, its capacity will soon overtake that of France. The country’s nuclear power industry has suffered no serious accidents to date. Nevertheless, the poor safety record of some other heavy industries in China, combined with the rapid growth of civil nuclear power capacity, has raised concerns over the industry’s ability to prevent a serious accident. The organization, development and governance of China’s nuclear power industry reflects the high strategic importance that the government has placed on the industry over several decades. At the same time, it has taken steps to address domestic and international concerns over its ability to effectively govern nuclear safety and security. The country has become party to most major treaties and conventions relating to nuclear matters and has frequent interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Despite many significant steps taken by the government, a number of questions remain concerning: the capacity and independence of the National Nuclear Safety Administration; the relatively incoherent nature of the body of laws, regulations and rules that govern nuclear safety and security; the absence of a clear legal basis for managing civil nuclear liability, especially in the context of an accident with transboundary consequences; and the quality of public participation, especially in the case of planned nuclear power plants.


NDT World ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 29-31
Author(s):  
Aleksey Polkovnikov

In the nuclear power industry, there are various requirements for NDT laboratories depending on the type of work performed. The article reviews the following types of appraisal: 1) laboratory appraisal at the head materials science organization; 2) appraisal of NDT laboratories during the construction of nuclear power plants; 3) evaluation of the measurement condition in testing laboratories; accreditation of testing laboratories for product conformity assessment. The study concludes that presence of various requirements for NDT laboratories in the nuclear power industry introduces a certain ambiguity in obtaining the needed certificates


Author(s):  
Don W. Miller ◽  
Steven A. Arndt ◽  
Leonard J. Bond ◽  
Donald D. Dudenhoeffer ◽  
Bruce P. Hallbert ◽  
...  

Instrumentation, controls, and human-machine interfaces are essential enabling technologies that strongly influence nuclear power plant performance and operational costs. The nuclear power industry is currently engaged in a transition from traditional analog-based instrumentation, controls, and human-machine interface (ICHMI) systems to implementations employing digital technologies. This transition has primarily occurred in an ad hoc fashion through individual system upgrades at existing plants and has been constrained by a number of concerns. Although international implementation of evolutionary nuclear power plants and the progression toward new plants in the United States have spurred design of more fully digital plantwide ICHMI systems, the experience base in the nuclear power application domain is limited. Additionally, design and development programs by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for advanced reactor concepts, such as the Generation IV Program and Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), introduce different plant conditions and unique plant configurations that increase the need for enhanced ICHMI capabilities to fully achieve programmatic goals related to economic competitiveness, safety and reliability, sustainability, and proliferation resistance and physical protection. As a result, there are challenges that need to be addressed to enable the nuclear power industry to effectively and efficiently complete the transition to safe and comprehensive use of digital technology.


Author(s):  
Ronald C. Lippy

The nuclear industry is preparing for the licensing and construction of new nuclear power plants in the United States. Several new designs have been developed and approved, including the “traditional” reactor designs, the passive safe shutdown designs and the small modular reactors (SMRs). The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) provides specific Codes used to perform preservice inspection/testing and inservice inspection/testing for many of the components used in the new reactor designs. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews information provided by applicants related to inservice testing (IST) programs for Design Certifications and Combined Licenses (COLs) under Part 52, “Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,” in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 52) (Reference 1). The 2012 Edition of the ASME OM Code defines a post-2000 plant as a nuclear power plant that was issued (or will be issued) its construction permit, or combined license for construction and operation, by the applicable regulatory authority on or following January 1, 2000. The New Reactors OM Code (NROMC) Task Group (TG) of the ASME Code for Operation and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plants (NROMC TG) is assigned the task of ensuring that the preservice testing (PST) and IST provisions in the ASME OM Code to address pumps, valves, and dynamic restraints (snubbers) in post-2000 nuclear power plants are adequate to provide reasonable assurance that the components will operate as needed when called upon. Currently, the NROMC TG is preparing proposed guidance for the treatment of active pumps, valves, and dynamic restraints with high safety significance in non-safety systems in passive post-2000 reactors including SMRs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2083 (2) ◽  
pp. 022020
Author(s):  
Jiahuan Yu ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhang

Abstract With the development of the nuclear energy industry and the increasing demand for environmental protection, the impact of nuclear power plant radiation on the environment has gradually entered the public view. This article combs the nuclear power plant radiation environmental management systems of several countries, takes the domestic and foreign management of radioactive effluent discharge from nuclear power plants as a starting point, analyses and compares the laws and standards related to radioactive effluents from nuclear power plants in France, the United States, China, and South Korea. In this paper, the management improvement of radioactive effluent discharge system of Chinese nuclear power plants has been discussed.


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