Field Of Nuclear Power Research Articles

Small nuclear power plants based on ship-propulsion nuclear reactors

The utilization of the ship-propulsion nuclear power plant technology - for which there is a great deal of operating experience - in the national economy is now being actively discussed. In a climate of substantially increasing costs of fossil fuel and the cost of transporting it, especially to the remote eastern and northern regions of the country, the wave of the post-Chernobyl disenchantment with nuclear power industry is gradually being replaced by the realization that energy intensive fuel, such as nuclear fuel, has certain advantages. The ecological advantages of nuclear power plants for the vulnerable and virtually unrestorable environment of the northern parts of the country is also important. The present paper is a review of developments at NIKIt~T in this field of nuclear power in the period 1991-1994. The review is based on the results of previous and current investigations, which have shown that the industrial and social structure which has been erected in the main part of the territory of the regions of Russia mentioned above and the primitiveness of the roads and power linkages in these regions create a great demand for small nuclear power plants (mainly up to 30 MW(th)) which generate, as a rule, both electricity and heat. If nuclear power miniplants are considered as such sources, then the specific nature of the construction and operation of such plants determines the obvious basic properties which both the plants as a whole and their nuclear reactors must have: maximum factory assembly of all units of the nuclear power plant and minimum construction and assembly work at the plant site; ease of transport of the units to remote regions, both in delivering the units to the plant site and removing units after the plant ceases operation; high maneuverability of the characteristics of the nuclear reactor and complete automation of operation with a minimum number of skilled service personnel; possibility of operation of a nuclear power plant in regions with little or no water, including under conditions of large seasonal differences of the surrounding air temperature; operation of the plant over a long period of time without reloading the nuclear fuel; and, the nuclear fuel must be economically more advantageous than the traditional fuel. Of course, in addition to these properties, the power plants must meet current and the constantly improving safety standards. The experience, gained over many years of NIKIET in the field of nuclear power for ship propulsion and the principles, systematically developed by specialists at the institute in the course of these works, for increasing plant autonomy and plant safety, and especially the degree of plant integration, which has been implemented in recent years in designs of nuclear power plants with one-unit steam-generating plants, make it possible to propose, together with the long-term partner AO "Kaluga turbine plant", some of these designs as a basis for low-power nuclear power plants with capacities ranging from 0.5 to 12 MW(el). As one can see from Table 1, the nuclear power plants being proposed can be built on the basis of the nuclear power plants for which prototypes with a long history of operation are available or which have been designed using proven solutions to technological problems. This makes it possible to reduce to a minimum the testing and construction work and, as a result, to reduce the cost and construction period of the advance plant. The plants indicated in Table [ are similar in appearance, and they have similar schemes and configurations as well as similar safety approaches. It is helpful to examine these plants for the example of the "Uniterm" nuclear power plant with an electric capacity ranging from 1.5 to 6.5 MW. If the plant must be used for producing electricity as well as heat, the heat extraction could amount to 20-30% of the nominal thermal power.

ファインセラミックスの開発現状と原子力分野への応用

ファインセラミックスの開発現状と原子力分野への応用

Communication on energy An alternative projection model of future nuclear capacity

There is generally a high degree of uncertainty involved in the projection of growth of any energy source, especially when the projection extends 50 years ahead. The 1982 OECD/NEA Report, ‘Nuclear Energy and its Fuel Cycle Prospect to 2025’ notes the downturn in past projections of nuclear capacity over the past decade. It is obvious that rapidly changing conditions have affected overall worldwide energy and economic growth and the field of nuclear power has been subject to changes specific to itself. These have caused past projections to become obsolete and therefore it would seem necessary to implement a new projection method to improve the accuracy of present forecasting.

On a code of ethics for policy experts

AbstractAdvances in science and technology have exposed society to risks of unprecedented magnitude, which sometimes must be faced on very short notice, as in the field of nuclear power. Those developments have greatly increased the significance of the opinions of policy experts. When adversaries are pitted against one another on such issues, the risk that policy experts may lose legitimacy in the eyes of the public is very high. At such times, the concern grows that the experts' views may be influenced by pressure from their principals or by conflicts of personal interest. One step that could reduce the risk of a loss of legitimacy for policy experts is to develop a code of ethics, which would include such issues as defining the responsibility of the expert, identifying unacceptable conflicts of interest, determining the expert's obligations regarding secrecy and disclosure, and developing standards for the process of decision‐making in emergencies.

フランスのＰＷＲと核燃料サイクルの現状

This is a research note on the recent situation of PWR and fuel cycle in France obtained when the author stayed at Electricite de France (EDF) as a trainee. It includes also some short memories of the experience impressed when he visited to several nuclear facilities during his stay.This report describes the history of French nuclear power development, the position of EDF in the field of nuclear power, the topics as to the construction and operation of PWR in EDF and some facilities of PWR fuel cycle (conversion, enrichment, fabrication and reprocessing, respectively).