Nuclear Energy Sources Research Articles

Analisis Strategi Keamanan Energi Cina dalam Upaya Penurunan Emisi Karbon melalui Pendekatan Konstruktivisme

The Chinese government has finally committed itself to reducing carbon emissions after having for years refused to limit its energy consumption levels due to industrialising efforts and economic development needs. The primary reason behind the policy change is the severe, life-threatening environmental damage resulted from industrialisation processes. The Chinese government has now set out strategic measures to safeguard its energy security by harmonising its climate change and economic policies. This is done to achieve carbon emission reduction through energy conservation and green economy development by developing renewable energy such as nuclear energy, hydropower, wind power, solar power and other undiscovered alternative energy sources. The actions taken by the Chinese government are based on existing international norm, namely those stipulated by the climate change regime which in turn formulate China's identity as a responsible country in the collective efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Operating on the basis of climate change norms, China interacts with other actors within the international structure to gather variegated knowledge on the issues at hand. With this accumulated knowledge as guidance, China enacts strategic-instrumental and resources-instrumental deliberations in its commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

The Role of Synthetic Fuels for a Carbon Neutral Economy

Fossil fuels depletion and increasing environmental impacts arising from their use call for seeking growing supplies from renewable and nuclear primary energy sources. However, it is necessary to simultaneously attend to both the electrical power needs and the specificities of the transport and industrial sector requirements. A major question posed by the shift away from traditional fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources lies in matching the power demand with the daily and seasonal oscillation and the intermittency of these natural energy fluxes. Huge energy storage requirements become necessary or otherwise the decline of the power factor of both the renewable and conventional generation would mean loss of resources. On the other hand, liquid and gaseous fuels, for which there is vast storage and distribution capacity available, appear essential to supply the transport sector for a very long time ahead, besides their domestic and industrial roles. Within this context, the present assessment suggests that proven technologies and sound tested principles are available to develop an integrated energy system, relying on synthetic fuels. These would incorporate carbon capture and utilization in a closed carbon cycle, progressively relying mostly on solar and/or nuclear primary sources, providing both electric power and gaseous/liquid hydrocarbon fuels, having ample storage capacity, and able to timely satisfy all forms of energy demand. The principles and means are already available to develop a carbon-neutral synthetic fuel economy.

Реакторные установки для энергоснабжения арктических регионов России: оценка приоритетности атомных энергоисточников

Реакторные установки для энергоснабжения арктических регионов России: оценка приоритетности атомных энергоисточников

太阳在主序阶段内部核能骚动引起的膨胀或收缩对自转减速的影响

太阳在主序阶段内部核能骚动引起的膨胀或收缩对自转减速的影响

Nuclear Power from Thorium:Different Options

Thorium is a fertile material that has drawn attention as a potential source of nuclear energy since the 1950s due to several attractive features of the Th-U 233 fuel cycle. In view of the renewed interest in thorium, the possibilities of thorium utilization in different reactor systems, namely pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), light water reactors, molten salt breeder reactors (MSBRs), fast reactors and accelerator-driven sub-critical systems have been examined. Extraction of energy from thorium essentially requires prior conversion of thorium to fissile U 233 . For in situ burning of thorium, a high burn-up is therefore essential. It is shown that the use of thorium in currently deployed PHWRs will reduce the requirement of uranium by about 30% in once through fuel cycle, while MSBRs with closed fuel cycle can achieve near breeding capability in thermal reactors. The most effective thorium utilization can be achieved only by adopting a closed fuel cycle which will not only enhance the fissile inventory many fold but also reduce nuclear waste burden significantly. While in conventional fast breeder reactors, thorium, partly converted into U 233 in the blanket region, is reprocessed for the recovery of the fissile material; in the breed and burn concept, the converted material is transferred to the core region without any reprocessing. Availability of spallation neutrons produced by bombardments of high-energy protons on heavy nuclides can augment fertile to fissile conversion leading to thorium utilization. The various options, which appear technologically feasible for generating power from thorium and the key issues connected with these schemes, are discussed in this article.

Approaches for integrated hydrogen production based on nuclear and renewable energy sources: Energy and exergy assessments of nuclear and solar energy sources in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has for a long time been using oil and gas for its electricity production. However, with increasing demand in energy, rises in oil and gas prices and their future possible depletion, the UAE has adopted an ambitious plan to opt for nuclear and solar energy as its primary energy sources in the near future. The energy from a nuclear power plant is sufficiently high to back up a renewable energy source. The proposed model in this study is an integrated hydrogen production system combining both nuclear and solar energies, installed in the UAE. In this regard, a thermodynamic analysis is carried out on the nuclear and solar energy systems incorporating energy and exergy efficiencies. Overall efficiencies and the net electrical/thermal output of the power plant and system energy losses/destructions have been explained in detail. Grid network options have been explored and a smart grid system has been introduced to help better utilize solar energy. A parametric study has been conducted to determine the effect of key design and operating parameters on the system performance. Results show that the integrated system can be operated with an overall energy efficiency of 35%.

Power Generation from Nuclear and Other Renewable Energy Sources

Power Generation from Nuclear and Other Renewable Energy Sources

Gravitational Properties of Atom

The evidence that the strength of any body provide nuclear forces of gravity. The nuclear force of gravity generated by the essential micro vortices. The vortex creates a pressure gradient in the ether. The pressure gradient is the source of nuclear energy. The nuclear force of gravity on the surface of the cores is equal for all elementary particles.

Benefits of utilizing on-site and off-site renewable energy sources for the single family detached house

Japanese Government is formulating new energy policies in the utilization of alternative energy sources to reduce reliance on nuclear and fossil-powered energy sources. This study shows the numerical evaluation of utilizing alternative energy sources for the demonstration single family detached house. The study shows that utilization of different alternative energy sources both off-site and on-site could reduce the house’s dependency on grid line electricity and fossil fuel. The installation of photovoltaic roof tiles, excess generated electricity could be sold through the feed-in tariff scheme. The utilization of a biomass fuel water heater could reduce the carbon dioxide emission. The combination of photovoltaic roof tiles and solar thermal collector with biomass fueled water heater allows the house to sell excess electricity produced, and eliminates the carbon dioxide emission.

The Sustainability, a Relevant Approach for Defining the Roadmap for Future Nuclear Fuel Cycles

In the framework of the COP21 agreement of December 2015, nuclear energy could help mitigating the global climate change together with the renewable energies, due to its low green-house-gases emissions, its reliability and its high base-load capacity. However, the political uncertainty in many countries about the future of nuclear energy source clearly illustrates that there is a need for a global approach to compare nuclear energy with other energy sources and draw its potential future improvements. Indeed, beyond the well-known economic aspect, many other criteria are also implicitly considered when choosing a relevant energy mix to be implemented in a given country. This rather recent situation requires extending the classical approach based on the technological and economic optimization to a wider approach also including the overall environmental footprint and the more general social acceptance. Sustainability approach includes the different criteria describing the environmental, economic and societal fields. Therefore, it may be relevant to identify the current key figures of nuclear energy, and help to identify the most promising improvement directions. In this paper, we propose to assess the current nuclear fuel cycles regarding the different sustainability criteria. We will also address the most relevant improvements to be implemented in the future to ensure the sustainability of nuclear energy and support its development.

A combined fuzzy approach to determine the best region for a nuclear power plant in Turkey

When increase in energy needs of developing countries cannot be met by conventional energy sources, alternative energy sources are considered to substitute them. Nuclear energy that meets the needs of a greater proportion of energy demands for countries is one of effective alternative energy types. In this context, after deciding on the use of nuclear energy, the selection of the most suitable location for the production of nuclear power is one of the important decision making problems. In this paper, we performed a facility location selection model for Turkey in meeting the needs of energy with using new and unused source of nuclear energy. For this aim, a combined fuzzy multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methodology that consists of Interval type-2 fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) that is applied to determine weights of criteria and interval type-2 fuzzy TOPSIS that is applied for ranking alternatives is used to determine the best location alternative for the nuclear power plant. By the way, the obtained results have been analyzed depending upon the criteria that used for the evaluation process. The obtained results are compared with existing nuclear power plants location selection policy for Turkey and some suggestions have been made for the plants where would be the located are not decided. By the way, a sensitivity analysis has been conducted to analyze effects of changes in decision's parameters.

Opposite correlations between cation disordering and amorphization resistance in spinels versus pyrochlores.

Understanding and predicting radiation damage evolution in complex materials is crucial for developing next-generation nuclear energy sources. Here, using a combination of ion beam irradiation, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, we show that, contrary to the behaviour observed in pyrochlores, the amorphization resistance of spinel compounds correlates directly with the energy to disorder the structure. Using a combination of atomistic simulation techniques, we ascribe this behaviour to structural defects on the cation sublattice that are present in spinel but not in pyrochlore. Specifically, because of these structural defects, there are kinetic pathways for the relaxation of disorder in spinel that are absent in pyrochlore. This leads to a direct correlation between amorphization resistance and disordering energetics in spinel, the opposite of that observed in pyrochlores. These results provide new insight into the origins of amorphization resistance in complex oxides beyond fluorite derivatives.

Gravitational properties of atom

The evidence that the strength of any body provide nuclear forces of gravity. The nuclear force of gravity generated by the essential micro vortices. The vortex creates a pressure gradient in the ether. The pressure gradient is the source of nuclear energy. The nuclear force of gravity on the surface of the cores is equal for all elementary particles.

High resolution ALMA observations of dense molecular medium in the central regions of active galaxies

AbstractIn the central regions of active galaxies, dense molecular medium are exposed to various types of radiation and energy injections, such as UV, X-ray, cosmic ray, and shock dissipation. With the rapid progress of chemical models and implementation of new-generation mm/submm interferometry, we are now able to use molecules as powerful diagnostics of the physical and chemical processes in galaxies. Here we give a brief overview on the recent ALMA results to demonstrate how molecules can reveal underlying physical and chemical processes in galaxies. First, new detections of Galactic molecular absorption systems with elevated HCO/H13CO+column density ratios are reported, indicating that these molecular media are irradiated by intense UV fields. Second, we discuss the spatial distributions of various types of shock tracers including HNCO, CH3OH and SiO in NGC 253 and NGC 1068. Lastly, we provide an overview of proposed diagnostic methods of nuclear energy sources using ALMA, with an emphasis on the synergy with sensitive mid-infrared spectroscopy, which will be implemented by JWST and SPICA to disentangle the complex nature of heavily obscured galaxies across the cosmic time.

Stability of energy imageries and affect following shocks to the global energy system: the case of Fukushima

Energy debates in the public sphere are often loaded with emotions. This is especially so following energy catastrophes which call for a more thorough understanding of affective rationality in the energy context. This research contributes to this effort by carrying out an in-depth effort to capture qualitative imageries and quantitative imagery-specific affect associated with nuclear, coal, natural gas, solar, and wind energy sources. Additionally, a detailed analysis of changes to energy imageries and imagery-specific affect in the aftermath of an energy catastrophe (i.e., Fukushima nuclear accident) is carried out. Two hundred and seventy-five German young adults took part in the study between December 2010 and January 2011 (before the Fukushima incident) while 452 young adults participated in the second round of the study between May and August 2011 (after the Fukushima incident). Word associations are used to elicit mental imageries and affect toward multiple energy sources. Content-analysis of imageries and quantitative analysis of the affective evaluation of such imageries revealed several interesting findings. Results provide insights into aspects of each energy source eliciting high levels of concern/support (as indicated by imageries associated with strong negative/positive affect). The robust association of each energy source with particular imageries is found to remain persistent after the Fukushima nuclear accident. While no change in affect toward nuclear and wind imageries are observed, some changes in affect toward imageries associated with coal, natural gas and solar are found. Nevertheless, the observed stability in the majority of qualitative imageries and quantitative imagery-specific affect after the Fukushima incident suggests that affective energy imageries are deeply anchored in people’s minds and point to a potential lock-in of affective mental associations in the energy context. Implications for future research, policy, and managerial decision-makers are discussed.

Human domination of the biosphere: Rapid discharge of the earth-space battery foretells the future of humankind

Earth is a chemical battery where, over evolutionary time with a trickle-charge of photosynthesis using solar energy, billions of tons of living biomass were stored in forests and other ecosystems and in vast reserves of fossil fuels. In just the last few hundred years, humans extracted exploitable energy from these living and fossilized biomass fuels to build the modern industrial-technological-informational economy, to grow our population to more than 7 billion, and to transform the biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity of the earth. This rapid discharge of the earth’s store of organic energy fuels the human domination of the biosphere, including conversion of natural habitats to agricultural fields and the resulting loss of native species, emission of carbon dioxide and the resulting climate and sea level change, and use of supplemental nuclear, hydro, wind, and solar energy sources. The laws of thermodynamics governing the trickle-charge and rapid discharge of the earth’s battery are universal and absolute; the earth is only temporarily poised a quantifiable distance from the thermodynamic equilibrium of outer space. Although this distance from equilibrium is comprised of all energy types, most critical for humans is the store of living biomass. With the rapid depletion of this chemical energy, the earth is shifting back toward the inhospitable equilibrium of outer space with fundamental ramifications for the biosphere and humanity. Because there is no substitute or replacement energy for living biomass, the remaining distance from equilibrium that will be required to support human life is unknown.

Investigation of an integrated hydrogen production system based on nuclear and renewable energy sources: Comparative evaluation of hydrogen production options with a regenerative fuel cell system

Hydrogen has risen as a sustainable and efficient energy carrier option in reducing environmental pollution, and is seen as a potential solution for the current energy crisis. Hydrogen production via water decomposition is a potential process for direct utilization of nuclear thermal energy to increase efficiency and thereby facilitate energy savings. While many of the available renewable energy resources are limited due to their reliability, quality, quantity and density, nuclear energy has the potential to contribute a significant share of energy supply with very limited impacts to climate change. The proposed model in this study is an integrated hydrogen production system combining both nuclear and solar energy sources. This integrated system includes storage of hydrogen and its conversion to electricity by a regenerative fuel cell system when needed. There are many matured water splitting processes that can be linked with the nuclear and solar energy sources to decompose water to its constituents, among which is hydrogen. In this regard, a comparative study is carried out to evaluate an optimal and feasible hydrogen production/storage process with a regenerative fuel cell that can be linked to this integrated system. Studies conducted here on hydrogen production processes show the thermochemical water decomposition to be the better option for producing hydrogen, comparing to electrolysis, due to its high efficiencies and low costs. Energy and exergy efficiencies of various hydrogen production processes, and fuel cell systems are evaluated and compared. Also, a parametric study is conducted on these efficiencies to see the effect of various operating conditions.

Gravitational Properties of Atom

The evidence that the strength of any body provide nuclear forces of gravity. The nuclear force of gravity generated by the essential micro vortices. The vortex creates a pressure gradient in the ether. The pressure gradient is the source of nuclear energy. The nuclear force of gravity on the surface of the cores is equal for all elementary particles.

Gravitational Properties of Atom

The evidence that the strength of any body provide nuclear forces of gravity. The nuclear force of gravity generated by the essential micro vortices. The vortex creates a pressure gradient in the ether. The pressure gradient is the source of nuclear energy. The nuclear force of gravity on the surface of the cores is equal for all elementary particles.

Dr T. G. N. ‘Graeme’ Haldane — Scottish Heat Pump Pioneer

Dr T. G. N. ‘Graeme’ Haldane was a visionary proponent of a national, rational electricity strategy. He was a pioneer of the National Grid and displayed a keen, early interest in nuclear power and renewable energy sources. It appears that he was the first engineer in Britain (and, possibly, internationally) to construct, monitor and document the performance of a heat pump system for space heating. He built his experimental heat pump system at the Foswell Estate, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland. The environmental heat source that he used was the estate’s water supply, which is likely to have been derived from groundwater springs in the estate grounds. In this case, Haldane’s heat pump can be described as Britain’s earliest ground-source heat pump.