Hybrid Nuclear Power: An Unexpected Small Reactor Approach

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Coal Gasification ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Reactors ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Helium Gas

The world possess hundreds of years of economical coal reserves that are becoming increasingly unpopular due to climate-change concerns. The ability of renewable energy to supply the planet’s needs is limited. The once bright promise of American nuclear power has dimmed considerably due to the high cost of building new facilities, with the recent events in Japan creating even more uncertainties. Small nuclear reactors are now being proposed, but their limited size creates problematic competitiveness issues. Our energy options for the future are becoming progressively more limited. A completely unexpected solution lies with a hybrid gas turbine designed to cleanly produce large amounts of electrical power using two fuel sources. This recently proposed and unique U.S. technology employs a large combustion (gas) turbine in tandem with a small and efficient helium gas reactor. Relative to conventional methods, the hybrid greatly increases energy production, appreciably reduces costs while dramatically reducing emissions and solid wastes, particularly spent nuclear fuel which is also essentially worthless as bomb material. The commercial potential of the hybrid is unprecedented. The helium gas reactor marriage with the combustion turbine opens the door for the continued use of one of the worlds’ most abundant and low-cost fuel resources, coal. The hybrid-nuclear coal gasification configuration dramatically reduces environmental impacts while also supporting the co-production of all manner of liquid transportation fuels, substitute natural gas, hydrogen, process heat and industrial chemicals. Replacement of the aging fleet of US coal plants with hybrid-nuclear/coal gasification units would dramatically reduce air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions without resorting to the problematic sequestration (pumping into the ground) of CO2. Further, coal sludge waste and ponds would be eliminated. The unique characteristics of the hybrid also sustain the co-production of stored energy (compressed air) and solar power and move both of these expensive green resources into more competitive positions. The hybrid’s unique operational capabilities readily support the electrical grid, particularly the increasing variability caused by greater use of renewable energy. The use of hybrid-nuclear energy plants would significantly extend the life of the world’s fuel resources, to the benefit of future generations. The hybrid relies on tried-and-proven technologies as well as the large body of knowledge developed over the 50 year history of nuclear reactors and combustion turbines. The unique characteristics of the hybrid overcome the engineering, financial and regulatory obstacles that have long held back the full-scale commercial deployment of the gas reactor. The hybrid technology is considerably safer than current reactors. Melting of the nuclear fuel is not possible, the reactor can not cause explosions or burnup, and radiation releases to the environment are extremely unlikely. No operator actions are necessary to keep the public safe. Hybrid nuclear energy is a fail-safe and evolutionary new direction for nuclear power.

scholarly journals On a Long Term Strategy for the Success of Nuclear Power

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Merk ◽  
Dzianis Litskevich ◽  
Karl R. Whittle ◽  
Mark Bankhead ◽  
Richard Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Reactors ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Strategic Development ◽  
Safety And Reliability ◽  
Water Reactors

The current generation of nuclear reactors are evolutionary in design, mostly based on the technology originally designed to power submarines, and dominated by Light Water Reactors. The aims of the GenIV consortium are driven by sustainability, safety and reliability, economics, and proliferation resistance. The aims are extended here to encompass the ultimate and universal vision for strategic development of energy production, the ‘perpetuum mobile’ – at least as close as possible. We propose to rethink nuclear reactor design with the mission to develop a system which uses no fresh resources and produces no fresh waste during operation as well as generates power safe and reliably in economic way. The results of the innovative simulations presented here demonstrate that, from a theoretical perspective, it is feasible to fulfil the mission through the reuse of spent nuclear fuel from currently operating reactors as the fuel for a new reactor. The produced waste is less burdensome than current spent nuclear fuel which is used as feed to the system. However, safety, reliability and operational economics will need to be demonstrated to create the basis for the long term success of nuclear reactors as a major carbon free, sustainable, and applied highly reliable energy source.

4. Nuclear power

2019 ◽  
pp. 74-84
Author(s):  
Nick Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Nuclear Reactors ◽  
Nuclear Fission ◽  
Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Of all the sources of energy used for electricity generation, nuclear power is the most contentious with strong opinions both favouring and opposing its use. Some well-known environmentalists consider that the use of nuclear power is essential to limit climate change, while expressing reservations over its environmental impacts. ‘Nuclear power’ explains that there are two mechanisms by which nuclear energy could be used to create heat and so generate power; nuclear fission and fusion. Nuclear power reactors create heat, which is used to make steam that is then passed through a turbine to generate electricity. The nuclear fuel cycle is described along with the different generations of nuclear reactors.

scholarly journals Feasibility Studies on Pyro-SFR Closed Fuel Cycle and Direct Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel in Line with the Latest National Policy and Strategy of Korea

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Muhammad Minhaj Khan ◽  
Jae Min Lee ◽  
Jae Hak Cheong ◽  
Joo Ho Whang
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Cost Estimation ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Closed Fuel Cycle

With a view to providing supportive information for the decision-making on the direction of the future nuclear energy systems in Korea (i.e., direct disposal or recycling of spent nuclear fuel) to be made around 2020, quantitative studies on the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) including transuranic elements (TRUs) and a series of economic analyses were conducted. At first, the total isotopic inventory of TRUs in the SNF to be generated from all thirty-six units of nuclear power plants in operation or under planning is estimated based on the Korean government’s official plan for nuclear power development. Secondly, the optimized deployment strategies are proposed considering the minimum number of sodium cooled-fast reactors (SFRs) needed to transmute all TRUs. Finally, direct disposal and Pyro-SFR closed nuclear energy systems were compared using equilibrium economic model and considering reduction of TRUs and electricity generation as benefits. Probabilistic economic analysis shows that the assumed total generation cost for direct disposal and Pyro-SFR closed nuclear energy systems resides within the range of 13.60~33.94 mills/kWh and 11.40~25.91 mills/kWh, respectively. Dominant cost elements and the range of SFR overnight cost which guarantees the economic feasibility of the Pyro-SFR closed nuclear energy system over the direct disposal option were also identified through sensitivity analysis and break-even cost estimation.

Hybrid-Nuclear Power: An Unexpected Energy Solution for the 21st Century

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Coal Gasification ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
Transportation Fuels ◽  
Helium Gas ◽  
Energy Independence ◽  
Hybrid Configuration

America possesses hundreds of years of low-cost coal resources that are becoming increasingly unpopular due to climate-change concerns. The high cost of conventional nuclear power greatly hampers the building of new such facilities, while the promise of the nuclear gas reactor also remains out-of-reach as a result of technical and competiveness considerations. Hybrid-nuclear power is a breakthrough solution to the emerging energy and climate change dilemmas. This unique technology springs from the observation that roughly half the power produced by a combustion turbine is used to compress air. By using low-cost nuclear fuel and a highly efficient helium gas reactor system with a combustion turbine, power plant output is significantly increased, costs are appreciably lowered and emissions are dramatically reduced. The helium gas reactor marriage with the combustion turbine and coal gasification opens the door for the continued use of our most abundant and low-cost fuel resource, coal. This hybrid configuration dramatically reduces environmental impacts while also supporting the co-production of all manner of liquid transportation fuels, substitute natural gas, hydrogen, and process heat as well as industrial chemicals. Solar and energy storage applications are also readily supported by the hybrid’s inherent flexibility. Hybrid-nuclear energy relies on tried-and-proven technologies as well as the large body of knowledge developed over the 50 year history of nuclear reactors and combustion turbines. The unique characteristics of the hybrid-nuclear approach allow the technology to overcome the engineering, financial and regulatory obstacles that have long held back the full-scale commercial deployment of the high-temperature gas reactor. The emerging hybrid-nuclear technology readily supports energy independence and can simultaneously help revitalize the increasingly challenged US coal and nuclear industries.

scholarly journals Reviving Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing in the U.S.

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-76
Author(s):  
Emily M. Farah
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Reactors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Under Construction

Nuclear power generation is responsible for fifteen percent of the world’s electricity, and since the beginning of the century additional nuclear reactors have appeared on the global grid in places other than the United States and Europe. Currently, sixty one nuclear reactors are under construction, and three-quarters of those are located in four countries: China, India, South Korea, and Russia. China aims to quadruple its nuclear power capacity by 2020. The United Arab Emirates entered into a 20 billion dollar contract with a South Korean consortium to build four nuclear reactors expected to be operational in 2017. Nuclear power creates radioactive waste with a half-life that spans thousands of years. If nations could reduce the radioactivity and volume, and thus the potential harmfulness, of nuclear waste by recycling spent nuclear fuel, would they take this opportunity? In the United States, the answer is no. In France, however, the answer is yes. The purpose of this paper is not to advocate for or condemn the use of nuclear technology.

scholarly journals Thermodynamic analysis of high temperature nuclear reactor coupled with advanced gas turbine combined cycle

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (Suppl. 4) ◽  
pp. 1187-1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Jaszczur ◽  
Michal Dudek ◽  
Zygmunt Kolenda
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Thermodynamic Analysis ◽  
Thermal Efficiency ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Coal Gasification ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Oil Processing

One of the most advanced and most effective technology for electricity generation nowadays based on a gas turbine combined cycle. This technology uses natural gas, synthesis gas from the coal gasification or crude oil processing products as the energy carriers but at the same time, gas turbine combined cycle emits SO2, NOx, and CO2 to the environment. In this paper, a thermodynamic analysis of environmentally friendly, high temperature gas nuclear reactor system coupled with gas turbine combined cycle technology has been investigated. The analysed system is one of the most advanced concepts and allows us to produce electricity with the higher thermal efficiency than could be offered by any currently existing nuclear power plant technology. The results show that it is possible to achieve thermal efficiency higher than 50% what is not only more than could be produced by any modern nuclear plant but it is also more than could be offered by traditional (coal or lignite) power plant.

scholarly journals Elaboration of approach to nuclear energy systems assessment by criterion of sustainable development

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Vladimir I. Usanov ◽  
Stepan A. Kviatkovskii ◽  
Andrey A. Andrianov
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Fuel Cycle ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Nuclear Fuel Cycle ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Key Events

The paper describes the approach to the assessment of nuclear energy systems based on the integral indicator characterizing the level of their sustainability and results of comparative assessment of several nuclear energy system options incorporating different combinations of nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The nuclear energy systems are characterized by achievement of certain key events pertaining to the following six subject areas: economic performance, safety, availability of resources, waste handling, non-proliferation and public support. Achievement of certain key events is examined within the time interval until 2100, while the key events per se are assessed according to their contribution in the achievement of sustainable development goals. It was demonstrated that nuclear energy systems based on the once-through nuclear fuel cycle with thermal reactors and uranium oxide fuel do not score high according to the integral sustainable development indicator even in the case when the issue of isolation of spent nuclear fuel in geological formation is resolved. Gradual replacement of part of thermal reactors with fast reactors and closing the nuclear fuel cycle results in the achievement of evaluated characteristics in many subject areas, which are close to maximum requirements of sustainable development, and in the significant enhancement of the sustainability indicator.

Electrochemical Recovery of Plutonium from Aqueous Carbonate Waste Solutions

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul Agarwal ◽  
Rama Mohana Rao Dumpala ◽  
Manoj Kumar Sharma ◽  
Donald M Noronha ◽  
Jayashree S Gamare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel

Recovery of Plutonium from aqueous carbonate waste solutions generated during reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is a key concern for sustainable nuclear energy programmes and remediation of radioactive waste. Reported...

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document