Power Plant Site Research Articles

Dynamic Risk Assessment of Landslide Hazard for Large-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants under Extreme Rainfall Conditions

Large-scale photovoltaic power plants located in highland mountainous areas are vulnerable to landslides due to extreme rainfall, posing a significant threat to the normal operation of photovoltaic power plants. However, limited research has been conducted on landslide risk assessment specifically tailored to large photovoltaic power plants, with most studies focusing on static assessments that lack long-term sustainability in risk assessment and prediction. In this paper, a dynamic study on landslide risk at a large photovoltaic power plant project under extreme rainfall conditions is conducted. Firstly, the factors in landslide susceptibility assessment based on typical landslide characteristics in the study area are selected and an assessment index database using mapping units to extract the relevant factors is established. Subsequently, the ANP-FBN model is employed to evaluate the landslide susceptibility of large photovoltaic power plant sites. Furthermore, an assessment index system for landslide hazard vulnerability is developed by considering population, economic, and material vulnerabilities, and the AHP method is adapted to assess landslides vulnerability in the study area. Finally, the landslide rainfall threshold with the susceptibility and vulnerability assessment results are coupled to achieve a dynamic assessment of landslide hazard risk at large photovoltaic power plant sites under extreme rainfall conditions. The findings highlight that the central valley and the eastern steep slope of the study area are the primary “high” and “very high” risk areas. Moreover, with the increase in rainfall duration, the risk level of landslide hazards in the study area also rises.

Digital radiography by counting photons: innovative solution for testing very thick parts

In 2019 we presented the first prototype of a photon counting detector (PCD) specially designed for the inspection of very thick parts requiring the use of high energy (HE) sources (E > 200keV). HE PCD differs from the standard model by the following characteristics: 1) Photoconductor CdTe active layer thickness optimized for HE, with about 30% increased detection efficiency; 2) Completely renewed ASIC allowing selection of energy threshold up to 1300keV. Modification 2) allows to reduce scattered radiation when using gamma sources such as Iridium 192 and Cobalt 60; or pulsed sources like linear accelerators and betatrons. The object-contrast results from this considerably improved. Image quality is comparable to, if not better than, film. We present energy threshold optimization study and performance evaluation results in terms of ISO 19232 IQI (wire and hole), signal-to-noise ratio, and spatial resolution (via duplex IQI) according to ISO 17636_2 (class B). Focus is given to HE PCD/film comparison, which was carried out by means of mock-ups containing artificial and/or real flaws; and, in 2020, for the first time in a nuclear power plant site, for the examination of primary circuit dissimilar welds. Photons energy thresholding successfully addressed also the presence of background radiation. The latter represented 2% of counted photons, while with film, background was responsible of 13% of optical density.

Analyzing the relationship between doublet lifetime and thermal breakthrough at the Dogger geothermal exploitation site in the Paris basin using a coupled mixed-hybrid finite element model

Reinjection of produced water is a critical aspect of managing geothermal reservoirs. The sustainability of extracted thermal energy relies on the performance of well doublets, which in turn is linked to the hydrothermal properties of the reservoir, the thermal characteristics of confining layers, and operating conditions. This study presents an advanced mixed-hybrid finite element simulator that solves coupled hydrothermal equations on unstructured grids. The model is favorably compared with the conforming finite element method at a geothermal power plant site that exploits the Dogger reservoir in the Paris basin. The study also includes a parametric sensitivity analysis, using an ensemble simulation to assess doublet lifetime, thermal breakthrough, and their ratio as performance metrics. Our findings emphasize the significant influence of horizontal permeability anisotropy and production flow rate on doublet performance, with doublet orientation relative to the principal axes of the areal permeability tensor as a key control parameter. Other influential factors include the thermal conductivity of the confining beds, while longitudinal thermal dispersivity and the total productive thickness of the reservoir are less critical. We establish, for the first time, a simple relationship between doublet lifetime and thermal breakthrough, indicating that the former is twice as long as the latter. This underscores the importance of long-term monitoring to sustain geothermal exploitation. This relationship can inform enhanced management of the Dogger reservoir at the basin scale.

New life at old plants: Exploring solar power development at former nuclear power plant sites in the United States

When a nuclear power plant closes, its host community often faces a number of negative economic impacts, such as the loss of skilled jobs and a major source of tax revenue. Even after decommissioning is completed, many former plant sites remain undeveloped, further inhibiting economic recovery. In this paper, we use data from seven decommissioned and decommissioning plants as well as estimates from industry professionals to calculate an approximate opportunity cost for each host community. This cost represents how much potential revenue has been lost while the plant site has remained undeveloped as compared to an alternate scenario in which it has been redeveloped into a solar power plant. Additionally, this paper discusses the presence of spent nuclear fuel and the challenges this presents for the redevelopment of former nuclear plant sites. This paper demonstrates the importance of efficient decommissioning and post-decommissioning redevelopment and examines solar power generation as one potential redevelopment pathway.

An integrated Bayesian Best-Worst Method and GIS-based approach for offshore wind power plant site selection: A case study in North Aegean and Marmara Sea (Türkiye)

In today’s world, renewable energy sources are in great demand due to the negative effects of fossil fuels on the environment. Wind power plants are an important renewable energy source alternative to fossil fuel consumption. Offshore wind farms established in coastal areas and seas are used effectively in many parts of the world. The wind power plants, especially in the Northwest region of Turkey and the Aegean coasts, constitute an important potential. This study selects suitable sites for offshore wind farms in the Marmara Sea and North Aegean Coasts of Turkey by integrating the Bayesian Best-Worst method (BWM) and GIS. Bayesian BWM improves the traditional BWM integrating the preferences of multiple experts. In the study, 17 sub-criteria were determined under four main criteria of “technical”, “socio-economic”, “environment,” and “location”. Experts’ judgments through the filled enabled the criterion weights to be obtained. The criteria weights found using the Bayesian-BWM model were integrated into the GIS, and suitable locations for the offshore wind farm were determined. Accordingly, the study area off the coasts of Aliağa, Bozcaada, and Gökçeada on the North Aegean coast, and the part south of the Marmara Sea and the area around Kapıdağ Peninsula are suggested as suitable areas for wind power plants.

사용자 중심의 감성안전디자인 개발 및 적용 사례 연구

While the number of industrial fatalities has been declining in recent years, companies' safety and health management systems are still inadequate, and more than half of industrial accidents are caused by failure to follow basic safety rules. It is important to raise safety awareness among workers and create a safety culture in the workplace. Especially in large-scale, complex environments with many inherent risks, such as power plants, it is necessary to develop solutions specific to power plant sites, such as an emotional design approach that improves worker awareness of safety rules and drives user behavior. To this end, we used user-centered service design techniques to diagnose potential risk factors for each process in the power plant, identify problems from the worker's perspective, and conduct idea competitions and co-creation workshops to develop solutions. The final nine solutions were designed and demonstrated, and received positive evaluations through satisfaction and effectiveness analysis. Through this, it was confirmed that in power plants where risk factors are scattered in various places, an approach that enhances the effectiveness of problem discovery through worker participation and co-development of solutions is necessary. In the future, if safety design considering user characteristics is further developed to minimize potential safety factors and risks by considering the user's lifecycle, it will contribute to improving the safety achievement of power plants.

The performance enhancement of containment with fiber reinforcement following a LOCA considering different ambient conditions

The prestressed concrete containment vessels (PCCVs) will be exposed to the temperature action followed by the internal pressure increasing after a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) with safety system failure. The damage evolution of the PCCV under the effect of thermal-pressure coupling deserves in-depth study. Moreover, different containment external temperatures are seldom considered in previous studies whereas they may further pose a great challenge for the design and safety of containments. Just as important, an attempt is first made in this paper to involve steel fiber in the construction of the containment to observe the performance of the containment with steel fiber strengthening under the effect of thermal-pressure coupling. Therefore, the influence of the possible outside temperature (i.e. −30 °C, −15 °C, 0 °C, 15 °C, and 30 °C) determined from the 5 existing or planned nuclear power plant sites in China on the distribution of temperature field of containment is researched firstly. Then, the damage indices corresponding to the containment are defined to represent the actual damage performance and failure mechanism of the structure. Finally, the comparative damage performance and failure mechanism between conventional and steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) containments taking into account the effect of coupling temperature and internal pressure is detailedly discussed. The results show that the SFRC is more expeditious in restraining radial and vertical displacement of containment under lower external temperatures for subsequent internal pressure. Under the ultimate internal pressure, the SFRC containment has a reduction rate of 5.37% for radial displacement and 35.52% for vertical displacement at an external temperature of −30 °C, while 2.23% and 15.33% at an external temperature of 30 °C, respectively. Furthermore, SFRC containment has better performance under the effect of coupling of temperature and internal pressure compared to conventional containment. For example, at an internal pressure of 1.2 MPa, the damage reduction rate for concrete is 94.18% at an external temperature of −30 °C and 81.37% at 30 °C; for the steel liner, the damage reduction rate is 50.22% at an external temperature of −30 °C and 87.83% at 30 °C. For the containment prestressing tendons, the damage reduction rate is around 60% under ultimate internal pressure. The study can provide important guidance for siting and design of nuclear containments and alternative retrofitting measures for nuclear containments.

GIS-Based Multi Criteria Analysis for Solar Power Plant Site Selection Support in Mecca

One of the major sources of renewable energy, particularly electricity generation and water desalination, is solar energy. The National Initiative to produce Water and Electricity started when the electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia begun to increase by about 5% per year. The current investigation aims to use a multicriteria GIS technique to identify the best spatial location for solar energy collection in the Mecca Administrative District. The best locations for solar power plant construction were determined with the use of a set of factors and criteria, including planning and environmental criteria, and terrain calibrator. These criteria were defined through a thorough literature review. This information was then used to create a digital geographic database, which was incorporated into an integrated GIS to produce a spatial fit model. According to the suitability data, most of Mecca region is ideal for solar energy projects, with an applicability percentage ranging between 30% and 80%. These findings are encouraging and promising for Mecca's renewable energy industry and they should be considered. It was discovered by examining these spatial locations and the level of suitability to the specifications that the lands with a sufficient share of more than 80% form an area of around 4000km2 and makeup 3% of all suitable lands. The governorates of the Mecca Administrative Area are home to most of these exceptionally suited locations. The Taif governorate takes first place with 35% of the total area and the two governorates of Turbah are placed second and third with 24% and 14%. In the Mecca Administrative Area, the appropriate lands for solar energy projects are distributed spatially according to a digital map. The study proposes incorporating the findings into the Saudi national plan for renewable energy sources.

Chemical looping combustion oxygen carrier production cost study

The objective of this study was to estimate the cost of commercial production of oxygen carriers (OCs) for large-scale application in a mature, chemical looping combustion (CLC) power generation industry. Estimates of cost were made for two production facility scenarios: (1) build and operate an on-site, OC production facility located at a 550 MW CLC power plant site; and (2) build and operate a central production facility to produce and distribute OCs to the U.S. CLC power generation industry. Two OC production techniques were addressed: mechanical mixing and co-precipitation. Representative OCs that have production raw materials with sufficient commercial availability to support a CLC industry are ilmenite, a natural OC, and four engineered OC types, Fe2O3-based, CuO-based, NiO-based, and CuFeAlO4-based, with candidate OC support materials Al2O3 and TiO2. The costs of the OC production raw materials represent the major portion of the OC product cost; the OC production cost, in dollars per kg, has been found to be nearly a linear function of the OC raw materials cost, in dollars per kg. The estimated OC product costs can be used to estimate the maximum OC loss rate yielding a designated CLC power plant cost-of-electricity (COE) target as a development guide, and it has been found that the maximum OC makeup rate, in kg per hour, achieving a designated COE reduction goal relative to a conventional pulverized coal (PC) power plant, will be nearly inversely proportional to the OC production raw materials cost, in dollars per kg.

A New Decision Framework for Hybrid Solar and Wind Power Plant Site Selection Using Linear Regression Modeling Based on GIS-AHP

Currently, worldwide attention to clean energy and sustainable energy has been expedited because of its many environmental benefits. In fact, wind and solar energies play a prime role in decarbonizing the energy market. However, finding the most suitable locations for wind/solar power plants is difficult because of the non-homogeneous distribution of these sources. This paper presents a novel method for selecting the optimal locations for wind and solar farms by mapping the space of the decision criteria to the site score. In addition, the multiple linear regression model was used, with the help of the combination of GIS and AHP methods, to model the siting of wind and solar power plants. The site scoring method used in this study is reliable and globally evaluated; therefore, the scores are accurate and effective. To reveal the ability of the proposed method, two study areas were investigated and researched. The results achieved based on the introduced method showed that, in case study 1, areas with an area of about 9, 4 and 7 km2 are suitable for the construction of wind, solar and wind/solar power plants, respectively. This paper also used fourteen existing wind/solar, wind and solar farms from five continents around the world. The results showed that the suggested model acts the same as the real data. In addition to the interest these results hold for the development of renewable energy in the study area, this novel approach may be applied elsewhere to select optimum sites for wind, solar, and combined wind and solar farms.

Site Selection of Solar Power Plants Using Hybrid MCDM Models: A Case Study in Indonesia

Among developing countries in Asia, Indonesia has realized the importance of transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as solar power. Careful consideration must be given to the strategic placement of solar power installations to fully leverage the benefits of solar energy. This study proposes a methodology to optimize the site selection of solar power plants in Indonesia by integrating Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP), and Fuzzy Measurement of Alternatives and Ranking according to Compromise Solution (F-MARCOS) models. The proposed methodology considers quantitative and qualitative criteria to evaluate potential locations for solar power plants. In the first stage, DEA is used to identify the most efficient locations based on quantitative measures such as solar radiation, land availability, and grid connectivity. In the second stage, qualitative factors such as technological, economic, environmental, and socio-political aspects are evaluated using F-AHP to prioritize the most important criteria for site selection. Finally, F-MARCOS ranks potential locations based on the selected criteria. The methodology was tested using data from Indonesia as a case study. The results show that the proposed hybrid model optimizes Indonesia’s solar power plant site selection. The optimal locations can contribute to a cost-effective long-term renewable energy supply nationwide. The findings from this study are relevant to policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers interested in renewable energy development and site selection. However, to promote sustainable solar energy development, governments and local authorities must also enact supportive policies and mechanisms that encourage the adoption and growth of renewable energy technologies in Indonesia.

Георадарные обследования горнотехнических сооружений западной части Арктики

The application of georadar surveys is described as a non-destructive, giving a detailed continuous (profile) picture, method for studying the internal structure and water saturation of mining structures. Examples of surveys of specific objects of large mining enterprises in the western part of the Arctic are given. It is shown that the electromagnetic field induced by the georadar is distorted in areas where the physical properties of rocks and soils differ (heterogeneities, increased fracturing, tectonic disturbances, faults, zones of increased water saturation, etc.). The key parameter of georadar sounding is determined, which is the intensity of wave field distortion, determined by the contrast (ratio) of the physical properties of rocks, spatial orientation and depth of heterogeneity. Based on this, structural features of the rocks of the Zhelezny quarry JSC “Kovdorsky GOK”, the mine Vostochny KF of JSC «Apatit», etc. were revealed. Hidden tectonic faults and heterogeneities of the massif, which pose a potential danger to mining operations and industrial facilities, were identified and traced. On the basis of long-term monitoring georadar surveys of the enclosing dams of the tailings of Kovdorsky GOK JSC, Kola Mining and Metallurgical Plant JSC, Oleniy Ruchey Mining and Processing Complex of NWPC, OLCON JSC, patterns of formation of filtration-deformation processes were established. For the Oleniy Ruchey mine, quality assessments were made for the construction of tailings dams, concrete foundations for mills, and railway loading and unloading terminals. On the island of Svalbard, georadar surveys have clarified the upper boundary of frozen rocks under the site of the thermal power plant of Arktikugol JSC.

Nonlinear Dynamic Soil–Foundation–Superstructure Interaction Analysis for a Reactor Building Supported on a Combined Piled–Raft System

There has been a rapid development of the nuclear industry on account of climatic change caused by global warming. The most favorable rocky sites for nuclear power plants are exhausted worldwide, and now nuclear facilities are proposed on soil sites. In a soil site, a combined piled raft foundation (CPRF) system can provide the desired level of performance for a nuclear structure under seismic loading conditions. The combined system of the nuclear structure with the CPRF involves complex dynamic interactions between the pile, soil, raft, and the superstructure. In the existing literature, the dynamic behavior of the CPRF system supporting massive and stiff structures is not well studied and investigated. Due to the highly nonlinear dynamic characteristic of the CPRF system supporting massive and stiff reactor buildings, this paper adopts interface nonlinearities (separation and sliding) through the master and slave concept, concrete and reinforcement material nonlinearities through the concrete damage plasticity model for piles and superstructures, and an equivalent linear approach considering soil degradation and damping with Mohr–Coulomb postyielding hardening behavior for the soil. After the successful validation of the modeling approach with the results of the experimental testing, the different aspects of the CPRF of reactor building are investigated, such as amplification, pile and raft behavior, pile–raft coefficient, separation and sliding, contact pressure, nonlinearity in the piles, and the response of the superstructure. This study indicates that the peripheral piles of the CPRF system could prevent the separation of the raft from the soil. The numerical result shows that damage in the CPRF system occurs near the top portion of the pile. The presented procedure to develop the combined model for the seismic analysis in the time domain could help to formulate guidelines for safety-related nuclear structures resting on the CPRF system.

A Late Bronze Age ‘Hoard’ and Metal Stray Finds from Tiszalök-Rázompuszta (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, Hungary)

The paper presents an uncertain Late Bronze Age (Ha B1) hoard and metal stray finds from Tiszalök (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County) that were discovered more than half a century ago, around 1952, and remained hidden for research in the private collection of László Teleki, the chief engineer of the Tiszalök hydroelectric power plant’s construction. Based on an escrow contract between the granddaughter of the late collector, Zsófia Farkasné Teleki and the Hungarian National Museum, the objects are temporarily kept in the Prehistoric Collection of the Department of Archaeology. The assemblage and stray finds were discovered at the construction site of a hydroelectric power plant on the north-eastern edge of the so-called Rázompuszta. Information on the hoard’s composition is contradictory, and it can be best reconstructed from the lists of Emília Risztics, who documented the collection on the construction site in 1952. Most of the objects—a sword, a socketed axe, a spearhead, two plano-convex ingots, and several bracelets and annular rings—that arrived at the Hungarian National Museum through the escrow contract appear in her lists and are identifiable by their dimensions and her sketches. This selection of objects suggests that the uncertain hoard in question belongs to the common category of “hoards with mixed composition”. The typo-chronological analysis of the finds dates this assemblage to the Ha B1, assigning it to the so-called Hajdúböszörmény horizon. The study provides a basic typological and technological overview of the uncertain hoard and the stray finds, with particular emphasis on ornament types not subjected to in-depth analysis. Metal finds from Tiszalök-Újtelep and Tiszalök-Vásártér are also presented in the text to add to our understanding of the local Late Bronze Age sites near Tiszalök.

Solar PV power plant site selection using a GIS-based non-linear multi-criteria optimization technique.

The ongoing rise in energy consumption imposed serious environmental challenges by using fossil fuels. The use of renewable energy sources is being increasingly explored as a potential answer for achieving sustainable energy production and minimizing adverse environmental effects. In the modern day, photovoltaic (PV) systems are viewed as a possible replacement for fossil fuels as a clean energy source. The installation of solar PV power plants requires vast land and huge investment. Therefore, it is necessary to select a suitable site to achieve maximum efficiency and low cost. A feasible location of photovoltaic (PV) system must consider certain criteria including land restrictions, access to roads, and transmission lines. This study analyzed ten factors grouped into four categories: geographic, technical, economic, and flood susceptibility criterion. The data of each factor is extracted from various governments, United Nation (UN), and non-government organizational bodies. Weights were assigned to ten factors by using a non-linear multi-criteria optimization technique called full consistency method (FUCOM). A geographic information system (GIS) software, ESRI ArcGIS pro, performs the weighted overlay analysis of the ten factors with weighted importance calculated by the above technique. A suitability map is created showing that a total of 2.02% of the country's area is suitable for PV power plants, which are further divided into five suitability classes. The results highlight the distribution of suitable sites for the construction of solar PV power plant throughout the country. A sensitivity analysis is performed to highlight the impact of the factor on the final suitability map. These findings can promote the future widespread development and application of solar energy resources.

Improved design of metal fiber filter materials: Experiment and theory

After a fire accident in a spent fuel reprocessing site of a nuclear power plant, the radioactive aerosol produced by the combustion is one of the main objects of accident control. Because metal fiber has good high temperature and radiation resistance, it is the preferred material for nuclear-grade filters. Taking nuclear grade filter's requirements as the evaluation index, this paper optimizes the design of metal fiber structure parameters. Under the currently limited technology, the best structural parameters are obtained by changing the fiber's basic weight and thickness of the filter layer. In addition, a protective layer and a structural layer are added on both sides to avoid damage to the filter layer during pleating and experimentation. The results show that the resistance caused by the protective layer is small, but it can improve the fiber efficiency to a certain extent, while the structural layer has little effect on the fiber performance. The optimal fiber structure parameters to meet the requirements of nuclear-grade filters are: the thickness of the fiber filter layer is 0.5 mm, and the basic weight is 950 g/m2. This work can provide a reference for the application of metal fibers to nuclear grade filters.

ACCIDENT LESSONS AT THE FUKUSHIMA-DAIICHI NPP FOR THE SAFETY OF THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY IN UKRAINE

The main causes of destructive steam and gas explosions with catastrophic environmental consequences during the accidents at Fukushima-Daiichi NPP were the loss of tightness of the passive safety systems of the reactor residual fuel removal safety system and the critical residual heat removal function in the spent nuclear fuel holding tank . The main lesson of the Fukushima accident for the environmental safety of Ukraine's nuclear power industry is the need to anticipate the possibility of unlikely emergency events with catastrophic environmental consequences. Such unlikely events include: flooding of the nuclear power plant site, complete long-term blackout, steam-gas destructive explosions, joint action of external extreme phenomena. Based on this, the following lessons of the Fukushima accident were formulated for the nuclear power industry of Ukraine regarding unlikely emergency events with catastrophic environmental consequences: lesson 1 - the need for reliable isolation of diesel generator rooms from external extreme events; lesson 2 - the need to improve strategies and methods of managing accidents with complete long-term blackout and lesson 3 - the need to determine the conditions of steam-gas explosions. The lessons of the Fukushima accident and the known results of the analysis of explosive conditions in nuclear power plants with WWER determine the need to improve methods for modeling the conditions and consequences of steam and gas explosions at the dynamic stages of emergency processes.The lessons of the Fukushima accident and the results of the calculated modeling of accidents with complete long-term power outages of nuclear power plants with WWER determine the need to improve strategies and ways to prevent and manage accidents with complete long-term power outages.A promising approach is the integrated use of additional passive safety systems to ensure the function of feeding steam generators with turbopumps (area for high pressures) and natural circulation (area for low pressures).

Determining optimal solar power plant (SPP) sites by technical and environmental analysis: the case of Safranbolu, Türkiye.

Solar energy is among the sustainable and renewable energy sources that has become an important and inevitable part of our lives today. It is of great importance to consider economic, environmental, and social factors in determining the installation locations of solar power plants (SPP). In this study, we aimed to determine suitable areas where SPP can be established in Safranbolu District by using the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), which is one of the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) method together with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to enable the decision-makers to express their preferences in approximate or adaptable ways. The criteria addressed in the technical analysis process were also determined by supporting the basic principles of impact assessment systems. Within the scope of the environmental analysis, the relevant national and international legal frameworks were also examined and the legal constraints were identified. Thus, in the process of determining the optimal areas for SPP, it has been attempted to produce sustainable solutions that are expected to have minimal impact on the integrity of the natural system. This study was carried on within a scientific, technical, and legal framework. According to the results obtained, the Safranbolu District had low, medium, and high sensitivity properties for SPP construction, and the areas suitable for SPP construction provided medium and high sensitivity of 10.86% and 27.26% correspondence detected according to the Chang (Eur J Oper Res 95(3): 649-655, 1996) and Buckley (Fuzzy Set Syst 17(3): 233-247, 1985) methods, respectively. There are very suitable areas for SPP installations in the central and western parts of Safranbolu District, and there are also areas suitable for SPP installation in the northern and southern parts of the district. Thanks to this study, suitable SPP establishment areas were determined for the under protection in a location in Safranbolu where clean energy is needed. It was also observed that these areas do not conflict with the basic principles of impact assessment systems.

A global evaluation model applied to wind power plant site selection

Site selection is one of the most critical steps in designing wind farms due to the heterogeneous distribution of wind energy on the Earth’s surface. Additionally, the wind power site selection problem is a complex process since it must be evaluated from multiple perspectives, including techno-economic, social, and environmental factors. In this regard, the current study proposes a new approach which combines Full Factorial Design and Analytic Hierarchy Process. The output of this combination creates a global model for the site selection of wind power plants. Using this model, the decision-making space is transformed into the scoring space which makes the scores related to candidate sites more meaningful and understandable. Therefore, Iran is selected to find suitable wind sites to reveal the proposed model’s capability. The results indicate that approximately 1300, 5109, and 16000 km2 of the study area are considered outstanding, excellent, and good for the utilization of wind energy. Furthermore, a functional analysis was conducted to ensure that the proposed model was robust, and accordingly, the accuracy of siting some existing wind farm sites was also studied. Based on the calculated scores, some real sites, e.g., Khaf and Manjil, are suitable for wind power development. Some sites could be more carefully selected, like the Binaloud wind site; others have not been appropriately selected, such as the Soffeh, Shiraz, and Sarab sites. Finally, the model can be employed worldwide as a standard index for assessing wind farm site quality.

The role of the Semiluky-Lipetsky Fault in the recent structure of the eastern slope of the Voronezh uplift

One of the discontinuous faults in the south of the East European Platform — the Semiluki-Lipetsk fault along the border of the Voronezh newest uplift and the Oka-Don trough. Detailed studies using the methods of engineering-geological, geophysical, geodesic, geochemical, structural-geomorphological, etc., accompanied by drilling and field studies, allowed us to determine the type of discontinuity as a extension with the participation of right-strike-slip (dextral shear) stresses. It is associated with fracturing of bedrock and Quaternary sediments, landslides and falls, including large gravitational-tectonic massifs, surface and underground karst, suffusion, and pull-apart depressions. In general, these processes and phenomena affect the geological stability of the site of the nuclear power plant, causing the development of negative processes. The reasons for the extension conditions in the Semiluki-Lipetsk fault zone are considered from two positions — the influence of pressure from the south from the Alpine orogen of the Caucasus and the connection with intra-platform deep processes that cause the extension the earth’s crust under the Oka-Don trough.