scholarly journals Geopolitical and Economic Aspects of Nuclear Energy

Author(s):  
S. Z. Zhiznin ◽  
V. M. Timokhov

Nuclear power in its present form was created during the Cold War and is its heritage. The main objective of nuclear energy at that time, along with energy, was the creation and accumulation of nuclear materials. To this aim a existing nuclear power plants based on uranium-plutonium cycle. Everything else - the processing of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, storage, recycling themselves nuclear power plant after its end of life, the risks of proliferation of nuclear materials and other environmental issues - minor. It was also believed that the nuclear power plant - the most reliable and safe plant. During the last twenty years all over the world the number of new orders for nuclear aggregates has decreased. That happens for a number of reasons, including public resistance, that the construction of new NPP and the excess of energy utilities in many markets, which is mainly connected with high market competition in energy markets and low economic indicators of the current nuclear utilities. The technology that consists of low capital costs, a possibility for quick construction and guarantied exploitation quality is on the winners side, but currently this technology is absent. However, despite abovementioned downsides, as the experience of state corporation "Rosatom"has shown, many developing countries of the South-east Asia, The middle East, African regions express high interest in the development of nuclear energy in their countries. The decision whether to develop nuclear energy or to continue to develop is, in the end, up to the choice of the tasks that a country faces. The article describes these "minor" issues, as well as geopolitical and economic problems of the further development of nuclear energy.

Author(s):  
Maciej Zaorski ◽  
Krzysztof Rogowski

Abstract In the era of globalization, the issue of energy security is very important. Nuclear energy is an important component in the context of energy security. Despite the disasters and accidents of nuclear power plants this domain is booming and plays an important role in national energy systems. Hence planning a nuclear power plant in Poland is an extremely important issue. This project is part of the diversification of energy sources in Poland. Radiation safety is an important element of construction of a nuclear power plant. This is the whole system which consists of the legal, organizational and technical parts. The system comprises radiation environment protection and physical security along with measures protecting nuclear materials.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey Shcheklein ◽  
Ismail Hossain ◽  
Mohammad Akbar ◽  
Vladimir Velkin

Bangladesh lies in a tectonically active zone. Earlier geological studies show that Bangladesh and its adjoining areas are exposed to a threat of severe earthquakes. Earthquakes may have disastrous consequences for a densely populated country. This dictates the need for a detailed analysis of the situation prior to the construction of nuclear power plant as required by the IAEA standards. This study reveals the correlation between seismic acceleration and potential damage. Procedures are presented for investigating the seismic hazard within the future NPP construction area. It has been shown that the obtained values of the earthquake’s peak ground acceleration are at the level below the design basis earthquake (DBE) level and will not lead to nuclear power plant malfunctions. For the most severe among the recorded and closely located earthquake centers (Madhupur) the intensity of seismic impacts on the nuclear power plant site does not exceed eight points on the MSK-64 scale. The existing predictions as to the possibility of a super-earthquake with magnitude in excess of nine points on the Richter scale to take place on the territory of the country indicate the necessity to develop an additional efficient seismic diagnostics system and to switch nuclear power plants in good time to passive heat removal mode as stipulated by the WWER 3+ design. A conclusion is made that accounting for the predicted seismic impacts in excess of the historically recorded levels should be achieved by the establishment of an additional efficient seismic diagnostics system and by timely switching the nuclear power plants to passive heat removal mode with reliable isolation of the reactor core and spent nuclear fuel pools.


Author(s):  
Jean-Jacques Grenouillet

Nowadays, decommissioning of nuclear power plants has become a key issue for nuclear industry in Europe. The phasing out of nuclear energy in Germany, Belgium and Sweden, as well as the early closure of nuclear units in applicant countries in the frame of EU enlargement, has largely contributed to consider decommissioning as the next challenge to face. The situation is slightly different in France where nuclear energy is still considered as a safe, cost-effective and environment friendly energy source. Electricite´ de France (EDF) is working on the development of a new generation of reactor to replace the existing one and erection of a new nuclear power plant could start in the next few years. Nevertheless, to achieve this objective, it will be necessary to get the support of political decision-makers and the acceptance of public opinion. Due to the growing concern of these stakeholders for environmental issues, their support can only be obtained if it is possible to demonstrate that nuclear energy industry will not leave behind unsolved issues that will be a burden to the next generations. In this context decommissioning of the first generation of EDF NPPs constitutes a prerequisite for the erection of a new type of nuclear power plant. This paper will present the programme defined by EDF for the decommissioning of its nine already shutdown reactors (Fig. 1). The reasons of the recent evolution of EDF decommissioning strategy will be explained and the key issues that will contribute to the successful implementation of this programme will be addressed. Finally, what has been achieved on sites so far and major planned activities will be described.


Author(s):  
Ф.О. Аракелян ◽  
И.П. Башилов ◽  
Ю.Н. Зубко ◽  
А.В. Николаев ◽  
Д.Г. Левченко

Рассмотрено состояние и перспективы развития атомной энергетики в связи с сейсмической и другими природнотехногенными опасностями. Анализирован опыт эксплуатации АЭС, статистика аварий на АЭС, их причины. В связи с авариями на ряде АЭС и глобальной сменой приоритетов энергетической политики в сторону возобновляемых источников энергии (ветра, солнца, гейзеров и т.п.) многие из технически развитых стран (США, Япония, Германия) заявляют о снижении роли атомной энергетики в собственных энергетических планах. Угроза опасности объединяет усилия таких стран как США, Франция, Россия, Япония, Южная Корея, Канада и Китай в сотрудничестве в области совершенствования технологий, усиления ядерной безопасности и развития ядерной инфраструктуры в странахновичках. Наиболее опасными признаны АЭС Азии, где отмечается повышенная сейсмичность. Благодаря усилиям по повышению безопасности АЭС, сделан вывод о снижении сейсмической опасности в связи с глубокой автоматизацией и передачей основных управляющих функций АЭС программному комплексу, совершенствованием алгоритмов принятия решений в случае землетрясения и других чрезвычайных ситуаций. Одна из главных целей глубоко эшелонированной защиты состоит в блокировании опасностей человеческих ошибок и сочетания отказов оборудования и ошибок операторов и распорядителей. Системы безопасности должны включаться автоматически и на некоторое время блокировать действия оператора АЭС. Эффективной защитой энергоблоков, построенных в последние десятилетия, являются герметичные оболочки (контейменты) и размещение над реактором емкости с большим количеством раствора бора, который выливается на реактор при аварии и нейтрализует радиоактивность в случае ее появления. Более детальный анализ сейсмотектонической ситуации площадок действующих АЭС мира привел к необходимости повышения ускорения безопасного останова в ряде АЭС. При проектировании АЭС недостаточно учитывать магнитуду и интенсивность предполагаемых землетрясений, для инженерных расчетов необходимо использовать конкретные параметры колебаний. Среди них важнейшее место занимает ускорение грунта, по которому можно с максимальной уверенностью судить о потенциальных нагрузках на сооружения и оборудование в зоне землетрясения. Приведена модернизированная система сейсмической защиты (ССЗ1М) энергоблоков отличающаяся надёжностью, отсутствием ложных срабатываний, стабильностью параметров во времени, защитой от внешних несанкционированных воздействий. The state and prospects of the development of nuclear energy in connection with seismic and other natural and technological hazards are considered in the article. The experience of operating nuclear power plants, statistics on accidents at nuclear power plants, and their causes are analyzed. Due to accidents at several nuclear power plants and a global change in energy policy priorities towards renewable energy sources (wind, solar, geysers, etc.), many of the technically developed countries (USA, Japan, Germany) declare a reduction in the role of nuclear energy in their energy plans. The threat of danger unites the efforts of countries such as the USA, France, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Canada and China in cooperation in the field of improving technologies, enhancing nuclear safety and developing nuclear infrastructure in newcomer countries. The most dangerous nuclear plants are located in Asia, where the increased seismicity is noted. As a result of the efforts to improve the safety of nuclear power plants, it is concluded that seismic hazard is reduced due to the deep automation and transfer of the main control functions of the nuclear power plant to the software package, improvement of decisionmaking algorithms in the event of an earthquake and other emergencies. One of the main goals of defense in depth is to block the dangers of human error and the combination of equipment failures and the errors of operators and managers. Safety systems should turn on automatically and block the actions of the NPP operator for a while. Sealed shells (containers) and placement of containers with a large amount of boron solution over the reactor, which is poured onto the reactor in the event of an accident and neutralizes radioactivity in case of its occurrence, are an effective protection for power units built in recent decades. A more detailed analysis of the seismotectonic situation of the sites of existing nuclear power plants in the world has led to the need to increase the acceleration of safe shutdown in several nuclear power plants. When designing a nuclear power plant, it is not enough to take into account the magnitude and intensity of the alleged earthquakes for engineering calculations, it is necessary to use specific vibration parameters. Among them, acceleration of the soil occupies the most important place, by which it is possible to judge with maximum confidence the potential loads on structures and equipment in the earthquake zone. The modernized seismic protection system (SSZ1M) of power units is characterized by reliability, the absence of false alarms, the stability of parameters in time, and protection against external unauthorized influences.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (sp) ◽  
pp. 789-797
Author(s):  
Kami Seo ◽  
◽  
Tadahiro Motoyoshi ◽  
Yasunobu Maeda ◽  
◽  
...  

Quake-induced accident of Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 triggered heated argument about the country’s energy policy in Japan. Although many people recognized the risk of nuclear energy use, they did not necessarily support the option of abandoning the technology for the near future. This paper focuses on how people perceive risks associated with and without nuclear power generation and how perceived risks affect their opinion. We conducted questionnaire survey targeting 18–20 year old university students, the stakeholders in the future. The survey was implemented in 2013–2014 when none of Japan’s nuclear power plants was in active use. Three quarters of the respondents answered that a future with nuclear power generation was more realistic than without it. The aspects dividing the two groups, i.e., respondents who expect a future with or without nuclear energy use were their evaluations of three themes: (1) the feasibility of renewable energy sources, (2) the impacts in the safety of developing nations’ nuclear power generation, and (3) the difficulty in gaining the acceptance of residents near the power plants. Meanwhile, both groups above were similarly positive about technological innovation, and were similarly and strongly negative about developing safety management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 290
Author(s):  
Shaleh Raed Shatat ◽  
Ade Riusma Ariyana ◽  
Devina Arifani

The states Nuclear Program is a program to build and utilize nuclear science and technology both in the non-energy sector and in the energy sector for peaceful purposes. Utilization of non-energy in Indonesia has developed quite advanced. The use of nuclear power in every countries covers various fields such as health, research and industry. Indonesia's readiness in implementing nuclear energy is carried out by ratifying international conventions, issuing laws, and issuing regulations from the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency, readiness in the field of infrastructure used to strengthen technology, and in Indonesia is committed to reducing 26% of greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2020. A nuclear power plant or nuclear power plant is a thermal power plant that uses one or more nuclear reactors as a heat source. The working principle of a nuclear power plant is almost the same as a steam power plant, using high pressure steam to turn a turbine. The rotation of the turbine is converted into electrical energy. The difference is the heat source used to generate heat. A nuclear power plant uses uranium as its heat source. The fission reaction (fission) of the uranium nucleus produces enormous heat energy. The power of a nuclear power plant ranges from 40 MWe to 2000 MWe, and a nuclear power plant built in 2005 has a power distribution from 600 MWe to 1200 MWe. As of 2015 there are 437 nuclear power plants operating in the world, which in total generate about 1/6 of the world's electrical energy. To date, around 66 nuclear power plants are being built in various countries, including China with 28 units, Russia with 11 units, India with 7 units, the United Arab Emirates with 4 units, South Korea with 4 units, Pakistan and Taiwan with 2 units each. Nuclear power plants are categorized based on the type of reactor used. However, in some plants that have several separate reactor units, it is possible to use reactor types that are fueled such as Uranium and Plutonium.


2014 ◽  
Vol 986-987 ◽  
pp. 315-321
Author(s):  
Wen Bin Xiong ◽  
Hou Ming Zhang ◽  
Bo Ping Zhang ◽  
Hu Wei Li ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
...  

In recent years, advanced small nuclear power reactors, namely small modular reactors (SMRs), gained widespread attention. In areas where energy can’t be provided by large scale reactors and the nuclear power plants with large scale reactors can’t compete with the non-nuclear power plant technology, SMRs, as a versatile distributed integrated energy source, which result in expanding peaceful applications of nuclear energy, have enormous potential. This article describes the characteristics and analyzes prospects and challenges of SMRs.


Author(s):  
Takashi Kamei

Even after the huge impact of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, Japan has to establish its energy supply system satisfying requirements of both global warming and resistibility of natural disaster. Nuclear power has a potential to reduce carbon emission but large-scale and centralized nuclear power plant may lose large volume of electricity supply at once. Small-scale nuclear power plants will bring solution in Japan. Thorium molten-salt reactor (MSR) is selected to simulate implementation capacity of small reactors in Japan. In order to use thorium as nuclear fuel, fissionable isotope is indispensable since natural thorium does not include fissile material. Japan owns plutonium in spent nuclear fuel of uranium usage. Quantitative evaluation of implementing capacity of thorium MSR in Japan by using plutonium accumulated in Japan. Implementation capacity of thorium MSR will be about 38 GWe and 11.2 GWe in the maximum and minimum cases at 2050, respectively.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurynas Butkus ◽  
Rūta Barisevičiūtė ◽  
Žilvinas Ežerinskis ◽  
Justina Šapolaitė ◽  
Evaldas Maceika ◽  
...  

<p>Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) and nuclear fuel reprocessing sites are main producers of anthropogenic radiocarbon. Anthropogenic <sup>14</sup>C can be released into the environment in gaseous forms, with liquid effluents or with spent nuclear fuel [1]. During photosynthesis radiocarbon can be easily assimilated into the plants. As a result, carbon-14 can be transported through the food chain and accumulate in a human body. Therefore, radiocarbon is considered a primary source of increased human radiation dose from industrial nuclear activities [2].</p><p>Main goal of this research was to evaluate the influence Ignalina NPP on carbon-14 content in the Lake Druksiai. The sediment core was collected from the Lake Druksiai. The ages of sediment layers were estimated using <sup>137</sup>Cs and <sup>210</sup>Pb dating methods. ABA (acid-base-acid) chemical pretreatment procedure was used to extract humin (HM) and humic acid (HA) fractions from the sediments. Chemically pretreated samples were graphitized with the Automated Graphitization Equipment AGE 3 (IonPlus AG). Carbon-14 measurements in prepared samples were performed using the single stage accelerator mass spectrometer (SSAMS, NEC, USA).</p><p>Radiocarbon content was measured in the sediment core which covers all phases of the NPP exploitation (commissioning, operation and decommissioning). These measurements in HM and HA fractions showed that after the start of the operation of the Ignalina NPP in 1983, the <sup>14</sup>C concentration in these organic fractions increased by 4 pMC and 3 pMC, respectively. In addition, a sharp increase of radiocarbon content (concentration almost doubled) in HA fraction was observed in the year 1999. Similar increase in <sup>14</sup>C activity in fish samples from Lake Druksiai was measured. In HM fraction such drastic changes in radiocarbon concentration were not observed. These results suggest that <sup>14</sup>C enriched effluents were released from the Ignalina NPP in 1999.</p><p>[1] Z. Ezerinskis et al., Annual Variations of 14C Concentration in the Tree Rings in the Vicinity of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Radiocarbon 60, 1227–1236 (2018).</p><p>[2] IAEA, Generic Models for Use in Assessing the Impact of Discharges of Radioactive Substances to the Environment (2001).</p>


Author(s):  
F. C. Mcginty

The expanding use of nuclear energy in the power generation field is such that the maintainability aspects of design and maintenance concepts will soon be of interest to an increasingly larger number of designers, logisticians and human factors engineers. This article presents a broad-brush treatment of the effect that radiations have on maintenance of nuclear power plants. It provides examples of how an acceptable degree of maintainability is achieved on a specific military nuclear power plant despite these deadly radiations. A brief glimpse at present developmental programs that will significantly improve the maintainability of nuclear power plants is presented.


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