New Nuclear Power Plants Research Articles

Causal Model Framework for Nuclear Power Plant Licensing Process

Interests in clean energy revived the nuclear power industry. For the first time in decades, innovative technologies and plant designs are being considered by regulatory agencies. This paper explores a Bayesian Network and AHP approach to causal modeling of the Combined License review process for new nuclear power plants (NPP). Historically lengthy and expensive, NPP licensing is critical to ensuring safe operation of the plants. With this comes a high standard for applicants to reach that can result in multiple revision cycles and long review times.The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's combined license process is examined in this study as an opportunity to predict delays based on project criteria and aid informed decision making. A Bayesian Network combined with Analytic Hierarchy Process inputs is presented to show causality relationships between licensing process steps, plant parameters, and time delays.

Public opinion on nuclear power plants in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America: A prescription for peculiar Japan

In attempts to solve climate change and energy security issues, many countries have made plans to invest in nuclear energy. Public opinion on nuclear energy is an important factor in building support for the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants (NPPs). In this study, public opinion surveys on existing NPP use and the new construction of NPPs were conducted simultaneously using the same method in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Japanese respondents were neutral on existing and new NPPs, citing “no strong reason”. In all three countries, the term “new construction” made the respondents anxious about NPP safety. This study also examined whether Japanese respondents’ attitudes change when the reasons for negative opinions toward NPPs are solved. By using the phrase “NPPs that no longer require evacuation,” respondent anxiety was resolved, and an increase in the respondents who agreed with the new construction of NPPs was observed. For Japanese respondents who believed that the problem of radioactive waste had not yet been resolved, the selection of a disposal site was not perceived as a solution. Based on these findings, this research provides valuable insights that can help advance energy policy in Japan.

Atmospheric dispersion modeling and radiological environmental impact assessment for normal operation of a proposed pressurized water reactor in the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia

As a licensing requirement, constructing a new nuclear power plant (NPP) requires performing a radiological environmental impact assessment (REIA) which includes the study of the radioactive releases' effects on the surrounding environment and population. These discharges could be aerial: from chimneys (stacks), evaporation, erosion, re-suspension; or could be liquid discharges: into rivers, lakes, estuaries or coastal waters.This work presents an REIA study for a pressurized water reactor (PWR) assumed to be installed in Umm Huwayd in the Eastern Coast of Saudi Arabia. HYSPLIT tool is utilized to estimate the air concentration and ground deposition of certain released radionuclides such as: 137Cs and 131I. It is also used to analyze the exposure dose's spatial distribution around the nominated site according to direction and distance. The radionuclide dispersion profiles for each of the four weather seasons were examined. The results revealed that the radionuclides dispersion profile is controlled by the weather parameters that varies from season to season. Around the nominated site, Umm Huwayd, the maximum estimated air concentration for 131I radionuclide was 5.6 × 10−6 Bq m−3, and the annual air deposition for 137Cs at the selected site had a peak value of 3.3 × 10−9 Bq m−2.GENII is also utilized to estimate the annual effective dose equivalent and cancer risks around the nominated site. The ingestion pathway contributed to the most of annual effective dose equivalent with 68.35% of the total, while external exposure and inhalation pathways contributed 30.50% and 1.15%, respectively. It is shown that in the nominated site the total annual rate of new cases of cancer (cancer incidence) is 1/109 persons. The cancer death annual rate (cancer fatality) is 5/1010 person. Therefore, the highest risk level around the selected site is much lower than the tolerable levels as suggested by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

Economic aspects of nuclear fuel cycle closure on the basis of fast neutron reactors in the framework of “Proryv” project direction implementation

As alternative energy generation evolves strongly during the last decade, it becomes essential to analyze competitive advantage of new nuclear power plant (NPP) projects in perspective of both recent designs of NPP with thermal neutron reactors and renewable energy technologies. At present the most promising and sustainable option according to analysis of levelized cost of electricity is innovative projects with closed nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) with high-capacity fast neutron reactors (FNR). The key objective of nuclear power industry for near future is to accomplish set requirements for techno-economic indicators of these projects to ensure their competitive development.

PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF ENGINEERED SAFETY FEATURES AGAINST STATION BLACKOUT IN SELECTED PWR MODELS

The 2011 Fukushima accident did not prevent countries to construct new nuclear power plants (NPPs) as part of the electricity generation system. Based on the IAEA database, there are a total of 44 units of PWR type NPPs whose constructions are started after 2011. To assess the technology of engineered safety features (ESFs) of the newly constructed PWRs, a study has been conducted as described in this paper, especially in facing the station blackout (SBO) event. It is expected from this study that there are a number of PWR models that can be considered to be constructed in Indonesia from the year of 2020. The scope of the study is PWRs with a limited capacity from 900 to 1100 MWe constructed and operated after 2011 and small-modular type of reactors (SMRs) with the status of at least under licensing. Based on the ESFs design assessment, the passive core decay heat removal has been applied in the most PWR models, which is typically using steam condensing inside heat exchanger within a water tank or by air cooling. From the selected PWR models, the CPR-1000, HPR-1000, AP-1000, and VVER-1000, 1200, 1300 series have the capability to remove the core decay heat passively. The most innovative passive RHR of AP-1000 and the longest passive RHR time period using air cooling in several VVER models are preferred. From the selected SMR designs, the NuScale design and RITM-200 possess more advantages compared to the ACP-100, CAREM-25, and SMART. NuScale represents the model with full-power natural circulation and RITM-200 with forced circulation. NuScale has the longest time period for passive RHR as claimed by the vendor, however the design is still under licensing process. The RITM-200 reactor has a combination of passive air and water-cooling of the heat exchanger and is already under construction.

Sensitivity Analysis of Steel-Plate Concrete Containment against a Large Commercial Aircraft

Due to the excellent impact resistant performance of steel-plate concrete (SC) structure compared with the conventional reinforced concrete (RC) structure, SC structure is preferred to be used in the design of external walls of nuclear island buildings for new nuclear power plants (NPPs). This study aims at evaluating the effect of material and geometric parameters of SC containment on its impact resistant performance, thus the numerical simulation and sensitivity analysis of SC containment subjected to malicious large commercial aircraft attack are conducted based on the force time-history analysis method. The results show that: (1) the impact resistant performance of full SC containment is better than that of half SC containment; (2) for relatively thin full SC containment, the impact response and concrete damage can be significantly reduced by the enhancing of concrete strength grade or the increasing of steel plate thickness; (3) for the thicker full SC containment, concrete strength grade has only a slight influence on the impact displacement response, and the increasing of steel plate thickness has no significant effect on mitigating the impact displacement response. However, the increasing of steel plate thickness can effectively reduce its plastic strain, and the decreasing of strength grade of steel plate may obviously increase its plastic strain; and (4) concrete thickness plays a decisive role on the improvement of impact resistance, which is more effective than the enhancing of concrete strength grade. Resultantly, this paper provides a reference and guidance for the design of SC structure external walls of nuclear island buildings against a large commercial aircraft.

Dominasi Rosatom Rusia Dalam Pasar Energi Nuklir Global

In recent years, Rosatom has dominated the world nuclear energy market. This Russian state-owned company has around 36 portfolios of new nuclear power plants (NPP) in various countries. In addition, Rosatom also controls about 17% of the nuclear fuel market. This research aims to find out how Rosatom can dominate the global nuclear energy market. To answer that, this study used a qualitative descriptive research method with the neomerkantilism concept approach. The data collection technique is done by means of literature study or literature study. The results of this study indicate that Rosatom can dominate the global nuclear energy market due to the influence and support of the Russian state. Russia made Rosatom a state-owned company aimed at pursuing maximum revenue through exports of nuclear energy for the sake of increasing the national economy as well as its global political influence.

Deterministic Seismic Hazard Analysis for the Northwestern Part of Haryana State, India, Considering Various Seismicity Levels

This study quantifies seismic hazard using a deterministic framework for the northwestern part of India, where a new nuclear power plant (NPP) is going to be built in the near future. The region of interest is situated about 200 km from the Himalayan thrust, home of many great earthquakes including the 1897 Shillong, 1905 Kangra, 1934 Bihar–Nepal, 1950 Arunachal Pradesh, and 2011 Sikkim events. This region has also witnessed six intraplate earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6 in the past two centuries. Therefore, considering the past seismicity and importance of the facility, seismic investigation is performed in the seismic control region over a radius of 300 km from the boundary of the NPP to identify active faults and lineaments. Then the seismotectonic map is prepared by compiling the earthquake data of magnitude ≥ 3 and dividing the source region into regions I and II to represent the interplate and intraplate seismicity. Eight well-recognized attenuation models are considered to estimate the ground motion characteristics at the bedrock level. The captured earthquake hazard for three earthquake scenarios reveals different seismicity levels of sources from low to high using the logic tree approach. The developed hazard maps show spatial variation of 50th and 84th percentile peak ground acceleration (PGA) for three scenarios. The maximum PGA for the three respective scenarios is obtained as 0.088 g, 0.110 g, and 0.151 g. The corresponding deterministic response spectra are also presented for all cases, and the present hazard values are found to be higher than those quoted by previous researchers. The results obtained in this article will be very useful for preparing hazard index maps of the study area.

Efficient Water Management and Selection of Cooling System for Future NPP in Bangladesh

Water withdrawal today presents a vital issue for Bangladesh to build a new nuclear power plant (NPP) as the country has a deficit in its water resources. It is an issue that may create conflict among the socio-economic activities that require and depend on the water like agriculture that mostly depends on river and ground-water. Very recently nuclear power has come into focus during debates on energy generation, often in relation to wider issues such as global warming and climate change. According to Power System Master Plan (PSMP) 2016 of the Government of Bangladesh, it is estimated that a capacity of 7200 MWe of electricity may be generated from nuclear power by 2041 (PSMP, 2016). The government of Bangladesh has already started the construction work of 2400 MWe Rooppur NPP and planning to construct more units of NPPs in the future to fulfill the planning of PSMP 2016. Usually, water is used as a coolant for most of the commercial NPP designed in the present world. In this paper, a study has been performed about the estimation of both the needs for cooling water and other essential systems for a future NPP in Bangladesh using IAEA’s Water Management Program (WAMP). Moreover, the selection of cooling systems by evaluating three different criteria: water resource, environment, and economics, has also been performed during this study.

Issues of Safety Assessment of New Russian NPP Projects in View of Current Requirements for the Probability of a Large Release

This paper considers the issues of safety assessment of new nuclear power plant (NPP) projects with VVER Generation III+ reactors in relation to the probability target for large release, which is subject to verification in the development of a full-scale Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) Level 2. The design solutions implemented in Generation III+ reactors allow reducing the probability of a severe accident (SA) due to internal initial events to a level of 10−7/year. Exceeding the radioactive release criterion may thus be related mainly to the consequences of beyond-design external events. This places special demands both for the selection of SA scenarios to consider and the methods for modeling the accident progression and consequences. The paper presents a method for selecting the representative SAs in the frame of PSA of new VVER NPP projects and a practical example of radiological analysis for two bounding accidents at an arbitrary NPP using an advanced integrated computer code system.

РАЗРАБОТКА МОДЕЛЕЙ, АЛГОРИТМОВ И ПРОГРАММНОГО КОМПЛЕКСА ДЛЯ РЕШЕНИЯ ЗАДАЧ ОЦЕНКИ РИСКА НА АЭС ПРИ ЗАПРОЕКТНЫХ АВАРИЯХ

A project is aimed at the development of models, algorithms and a program complex to carry out measures for safety increase and risk decrease during development of new nuclear power plants (NPP) and operation of working nuclear power ones. A basic novelty of the project is the development of a methodical apparatus for the estimate a radiation risk at NPP in case of the most dangerous (beyond-design) failures with the emission of origins of thermal neurons with the low density of a flow. 
 Atomic piles based on the use of fission energy of heavy nuclei fission are powerful sources of gamma and neuron radiation. The project is aimed at the computer modeling and development of new methods, algorithms and a program complex for the problem solution in the estimate of safety and risks at NPPs at the most dangerous (beyond-design) failures with the emission of thermal neurons sources with the low density of a flow. To realize the project it is necessary to develop a methodical approach to the solution of problems in the estimate of doses of external and internal irradiation and the estimate of damage for the population living around NPPs at the most dangerous (beyond-design failures with the emission of thermal neurons sources with the low density of a flow taking into account a population age structure. On the basis of these solutions there will be offered measures to decrease a risk and safety increase NPP safety.

Explaining local residents’ acceptance of rebuilding nuclear power plants: The roles of perceived general benefit and perceived local benefit

Although many new nuclear power plant (NPP) projects, such as the addition of a new reactor, have been proposed at the locations of existing nuclear installations, little attention has been given to research on the acceptance of such rebuilding projects by local residents living near the existing NPPs. The present study develops a theoretical model that examines the influences of environmental concern, place attachment, perceived benefit, and perceived risk on local acceptance of rebuilding NPPs. The study also divides perceived benefit into two dimensions, namely, perceived general benefit and perceived local benefit. Using data from an online questionnaire-based survey in China, the results indicate that for the surveyed local residents, rebuilding acceptance is positively influenced by perceived local benefit and perceived general benefit but is negatively affected by perceived risk. Perceived local benefit is the dominant factor influencing local rebuilding acceptance. Contrary to expectations, environmental concern positively affects the perceived benefit, which in turn positively affects local rebuilding acceptance. Moreover, place attachment positively affects the perceived benefit and negatively affects the perceived risk, which in turn positively affects local rebuilding acceptance. Based on these findings, theoretical implications and policy suggestions are discussed.

Probabilistic Modelling for Earthquake Forecasting in the Northwestern Part of Haryana State, India

This study attempts to estimate the probability of the occurrence of large earthquakes (Mw ≥ 5.5) in the northwestern part of Haryana state, India, where a new nuclear power plant (NPP) is going to be constructed in the near future. First, an earthquake catalogue is developed for the period 1803–1986, and five stochastic models, namely lognormal, Weibull, gamma, Rayleigh, and double exponential, are then applied to past earthquake data. The performance of these models is checked using three statistical tests, and the lognormal, Weibull, and Rayleigh models are found to produce good approximations for this region, whereas the double exponential and gamma models yield intermediate and poor results. Hence, cumulative and conditional probabilities and related hazard curves for future earthquakes are estimated using the most suitable models. The cumulative probability of the occurrence of an earthquake (Mw ≥ 5.5) since the last event (1986) reached 0.95–0.98 as of 2018. The conditional probability of the occurrence of such an earthquake reaches 0.90–0.95 about 9–12 years from now (2027–2030), when the elapsed time will be 32 years (i.e., since 2018). The probability of earthquakes with different threshold magnitudes is then estimated, and based on the outcome of this investigation, earthquake magnitudes are classified from occasional (Mw ≤ 6.1) to very rare events (Mw ≥ 7.6) that this region may experience in the future. The findings of this study will be considered in seismic hazard assessment, liquefaction hazard assessment, and earthquake-resistant design of NPP components.

The economic organization of nuclear power construction projects: Organizational models for production and financing

In order to limit the rise in global average temperature to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, international organizations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest an increasing role for new nuclear power plants. Their pathways entail a large number of new builds by 2050. Given the projected large-scale deployment of new nuclear reactors, it is therefore essential to analyse the existing organizational models. This paper provides an institutional economic analysis of the organizational models for the production and financing of new nuclear power plants. A particular focus is on private sector involvement and competition. In this regard, the paper looks at the division of tasks between state and private actors in financing and production, the governance structures of the companies involved, their market shares, and their degree of vertical integration. The rate of nuclear expansion proposed under the IEA and IPPC scenarios is higher than has ever been achieved in the history of the industry, which has been in decline and contracting since the 1980s. Since the turn of the century, the nuclear sector has been dominated by Russia, while traditional reactor vendors are continually on the brink of bankruptcy and have more or less abandoned reactor exports. Heavy forging capacity for reactor pressure vessels continues to constrain the supply chain, although some new production capacity has been added. Small modular reactors would not alleviate this situation. On the contrary, they would also rely on heavy forges in Russia and Asia. Government support is required for new nuclear power plants (NPPs), be it in liberalized markets or coordinated economies. In liberalized markets support can take the form of federal loans, or power purchase agreements. Countries with regulated markets and a state-owned nuclear industry such as China, Russia or India will probably continue to build NPPs. However, expansion is slowing down even in these countries, while the share of renewables is on the rise.

Personnel training for the developing nuclear power industry

The article briefly describes the history of training personnel for the nuclear industry and sets tasks for its improvement and development to ensure the future growth of this industry. Within the framework of the emerging digital economy, such a phenomenon as digital platforms erases the boundaries between industries, forming new unexpected industrial alliances, even new industries. Innovative activities in the power industry, including nuclear power, should provide the possibility of forming digital economic platforms in various energy segments as well as training personnel in using this new toolkit. Today, the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation is developing more than 30 projects of new nuclear power plants (NPP) in Russia and 12 other countries. This requires educational support, and for this purpose a Consortium of supporting universities of the Rosatom State Corporation was established, which includes 18 specialized higher educational institutions. More than half of them train personnel directly for designing, constructing and operating NPPs. The scale of the necessary personnel training in the near future indicates that we need a new “educational paradigm”, which can be described as “front-line education”, i.e., training personnel for developing digital economy technologies simultaneously along the entire “front”. This “front” stretches from schoolchildren preparing to enter universities to production personnel whose professional development should be carried out taking into account the specifics of the digital transformation of production. Partnership is one of the leading values of the modern young generation. To withstand high competition for the best personnel, organizations must not only be saturated with the culture of partnership from the inside but also act as reliable partners for one another in involving and training young employees.

What Do Potential Residents Really Want When Hosting a Nuclear Power Plant? An Empirical Study of Economic Incentives in South Korea

To increase acceptance of new nuclear power plants (NPPs) by local communities, some countries offer those communities economic incentives. This study analyzes potential residents’ preferences for economic incentives provided during the construction and operation of NPPs in South Korea. This study uses stated preference data through a discrete choice experiment and the mixed logit model to reflect the heterogeneity of respondents’ preferences. The analysis results confirm heterogeneity by various incentive types, and show that respondents consider the distance between the NPP and the residential area as well as reduced electricity bills as crucial attribute of new NPPs. In addition, the result for the marginal willingness to be near to an NPP shows that reduced electricity bills, construction of new public facilities, and increased residents’ participation are relatively more effective incentives than job creation or solar panel installation. In particular, increased residents’ participation could greatly improve acceptance although it is not a direct form of financial support. The simulation analysis results indicate that acceptance of NPPs rapidly reduces as distance to the plant becomes shorter, although acceptance can change within a 0–30% range depending on the level of incentives. Several policy implications are suggested for policymakers based on the results.

A Methodology for Optimizing the Management of Spent Fuel of Nuclear Power Plants Using Dry Storage Casks

The management of spent nuclear fuel assemblies of nuclear reactors is a priority subject among member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency. For the majority of these countries, the destination of such fuel assemblies is a decision that is yet to be made and the “wait-and-see” policy is thus adopted by them. In this case, the irradiated fuel is stored in on-site spent fuel pools until the power plant is decommissioned or, when there is no more racking space in the pool, they are stored in intermediate storage facilities, which can be another pool or dry storage systems, until the final decision is made. The objective of this study is to propose a methodology that, using optimization algorithms, determines the ideal time for removal of the fuel assemblies from the spent fuel pool and to place them into dry casks for intermediate storage. In this scenario, the methodology allows for the optimal dimensioning of the designed spent fuel pools and the casks’ characteristics, thus reducing the final costs for purchasing new Nuclear Power Plants (NPP), as the size and safety features of the pool could be reduced and dry casks, that would be needed anyway after the decommissioning of the plant, could be purchased with optimal costs. To demonstrate the steps involved in the proposed methodology, an example is given, one which uses the Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP) to calculate the shielding requirements for a simplified model of a concrete dry cask. From the given example, it is possible to see that, using real-life data, the proposed methodology can become a valuable tool to help making nuclear energy a more attractive choice costwise.

The Need for Integrated Cybersecurity and Safety Training

Companies involved in the nuclear energy domain, like component and platform manufacturers, system integrators, and utilities, have well-established yearly trainings on Nuclear Safety Culture. These trainings are typically covered as part of the annual quality assurance-related refresher trainings, introductory courses for new employees, or indoctrinations of temporary staff. Gradually, security awareness trainings are also addressed on a regular basis, typically with a focus on information technology, the daily office work, test bay, or construction site work environment, and some data protection and privacy-related topics. Due to emerging national nuclear regulation, steadily but surely, specialized cybersecurity trainings are foreseen for integrators and utilities. Beyond these safety, physical security and cybersecurity specific trainings, there is a need to address the joint part of these disciplines, starting from the planning phase of a new nuclear power plant (NPP). The engineers working on safety, physical protection, and cybersecurity must be aware of these interrelations to jointly elaborate a robust instrumentation and control architecture (defense-in-depth, design basis events, functional categorization and systems classification) and a resilient security architecture (security by design, security grading, zone model or infrastructure domain, security conduits, forensic readiness, security information, and event management). This paper provides more in-depth justification of when and where additional training is needed, due to the ubiquitous deployment of digital technology in new NPPs. Additionally, for existing NPPs, the benefits of conveying knowledge by training on specific interfaces between the involved disciplines will be discussed. Furthermore, the paper will address the need of focused training of management stakeholders, as eventually, they must agree on the residual risk. The decision-makers are in charge of facilitating the interdisciplinary cooperation in parallel to the allocation of resources, e.g., on security certifications of products, extended modeling-based safety and security analyses and security testing coverage.

Techno-Economic Analysis Methods for Nuclear Power Plants

This paper focuses on critically reviewing the prevailing techno-economic analysis methods used for traditional and new nuclear power plants (NPPs). The organizations whose methods are compared here are – International Atomic Energy Agency; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Chicago, U.S. Department of Energy / Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and International Energy Agency – Nuclear Energy Agency. We identify technology and market factors that changed in the past few years that have a direct impact on the economic feasibility of nuclear power. Based on the review, we identify areas in which the traditional methods could be improved to better fit the changed global scenario, so as to give a more realistic picture of the feasibility of NPPs. We found that there are many similarities across organizations in terms of methodology. The differences were mainly regarding the terminology and the levels of aggregation. We identified a costing method which combines the salient features of other methods to better fit the changed global scenario, so as to give a more realistic picture of the feasibility of NPPs.

Determination of elemental impurities in polymer materials of electrical cables for use in safety systems of nuclear power plants and for data transfer in the Large Hadron Collider by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Using instrumental neutron activation analysis with both short- and long-time irradiations, we determined up to 38 elements in polymers used in cables for new nuclear power plants (NPP) generation and for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Contrary to our previous work concerning the element contents in polymers presently used in several NPP, the values found in new cables for NPP were mostly below maximum allowable contents set by European regulations. In case of cables for LHC, several trials were needed to obtain a cable, whose polymer materials satisfied the requirement of an international guide on halogen-free composition.