Micro-structured nuclear fuel and novel nuclear reactor concepts for advanced power production

Many applications (e.g. terrestrial and space electric power production, naval, underwater and railroad propulsion and auxiliary power for isolated regions) require a compact-high-power electricity source. The development of such a reactor structure necessitates a deeper understanding of fission energy transport and materials behavior in radiation dominated structures. One solution to reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions and delay the catastrophic events' occurrences may be the development of massive nuclear power. The actual basic conceptions in nuclear reactors are at the base of the bottleneck in enhancements. The current nuclear reactors look like high security prisons applied to fission products. The micro-bead heterogeneous fuel mesh gives the fission products the possibility to acquire stable conditions outside the hot zones without spilling, in exchange for advantages – possibility of enhancing the nuclear technology for power production. There is a possibility to accommodate the materials and structures with the phenomenon of interest, the high temperature fission products free fuel with near perfect burning. This feature is important to the future of nuclear power development in order to avoid the nuclear fuel peak, and high price increase due to the immobilization of the fuel in the waste fuel nuclear reactor pools.     

Requirements for 21st centry nuclear power plants

The development of energy production in the 21st century will be subject to more uniform per capita and regional consumption. Among the competing sources of energy, the positive qualities of nuclear power-unlimited fuel resources, high energy intensiveness, and ecological compatibility with the possibility of the wastes being highly concentrated—predetermine the development of large-scale nuclear power. The conditions for the development of such nuclear power are its ecological effectiveness and safety (of the reactors and the fuel cycle with the production of wastes), nuclear fuel breeding with adequate characteristics, and guarantees of nonproliferation of fissioning materials. Continuity in the development of nuclear power dictates the requirements for reactor systems in the near and distant future. The acceptable level of safety is closely related to the scales of nuclear power and the applications of nuclear energy sources. However, progress in decreasing the potential danger of reactors and decreasing the cost of protective systems is unavoidable. In choosing new directions, it is important to demonstrate the new qualities in the solution of the problems facing nuclear power in the future. An adequate diversity of reactor technologies could exist in the future. The requirements that will face nuclear power plants in the future stages of development and the expected stages of this development are discussed. The jourmal variant of this report at the 10th annual conference of the Nuclear Society “From the first nuclear power plant in the world to power engineering of the twenty-first century” (June 28–July 2, 1999, Obninsk) Russian Science Center “Kurchatov Institute”. Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 88, No. 1, pp. 3–14, January, 2000.     

Accounting and monitoring of materials in the nuclear fuel cycle

The main drawback of the existing normative base of the systems used for accounting for, monitoring, and physical protection of radioactive substances and wastes is that these systems ignore the experience which has been accumulated for nuclear materials. It is proposed in the present paper that the program-technological complexes used in the accounting and monitoring systems be unified and that the successful experience in developing such complexes at the Russian Science Center Kurchatov Institute in the form of the KI-MAKS system, which makes it possible to solve the problems of automatically accounting for, monitoring, and reporting on nuclear materials and radioactive substances and wastes, be utilized. It is shown that an effective solution of the problems of accounting for, monitoring, and physical protection in terms of cost-effectiveness can be attained by using the existing program-technological complex called a probabilistic expert-consulting system, which makes it possible to perform a quantitative analysis of the level of the safety culture in the nuclear fuel cycle. __________ Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 101, No. 3, pp. 208–214, September, 2006.     

Evaluation of implementation of thorium fuel cycle with LWR and MSR

In order to construct a sustainable society, it is necessary to consider fairness beyond generations and between countries. It is expected that Asian countries continue growing their economy and will result consuming more energy. More CO₂ emission is not acceptable.Nuclear power has many advantages for reducing CO₂ emission. However, it still has concerns of nuclear proliferation, radioactive waste and safety. It is necessary to overcome these concerns if nuclear power is expanded to Asian countries. Thorium utilization as nuclear fuel will be an opening key of these difficulties because thorium produces less plutonium, less radioactive waste. Safety will also be enhanced. The use of molten-salt reactor (MSR) triggered by plutonium supply from ordinary light water reactor (LWR) with uranium fuel will allow implementation of thorium fuel cycle with electricity capacity of about 446 GWe around at 2050.The other important sector in a view of sustainability is transportation. Transportation is essential for economy growth. Therefore it is inevitable to reduce CO₂ emission from transportation sector. Electric vehicle (EV) will be used as a major mobility instead of gasoline engine cars. Rare-earth materials such as neodymium and dysprosium are necessary for producing EV. These materials are expected to be mined from Asian countries. It is often obtained with thorium as by-product. Thorium has not been used as nuclear fuel because it is not good for nuclear weapon and it does not have fissionable isotopes. Recent global trend of nuclear disarmament and accumulation of plutonium from uranium fuel cycle can support starting the use of thorium.Thorium utilization will help both to provide clean energy and to produce rare-earth for clean vehicle. These will create new industries in developing Asian countries. An international collaborative framework can be established by supplying resource from developing countries and supplying technology from developed countries. “THE Bank (THorium Energy Bank)” is proposed here as one part of such a framework.     

Choice of the capacity of a fast reactor for nuclear power

Analytical assessments, associated with the choice of the unit capacity of a serially built fast reactor under conditions of the future advancement of nuclear power, are presented. It is shown that considering the limited resources of natural uranium, the development of a reliable raw materials base must be based on the development of fast reactors with expanded breeding of fuel and fuel cycle closure. Since fast reactors, together with energy production, are also producers of new fuel, their parameters must be optimized taking account of this factor on the basis of systems analysis. Calculations show that the optimal capacity for fast reactors is in the 1 GW range. __________ Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 103, No. 2, pp. 83–88, August, 2007.     

Multi-Component Self-Consistent Nuclear Energy System for sustainable growth

Environmental harmonization of nuclear energy technology is considered as an absolutely necessary condition in its future successful development for peaceful use. Establishment of Self-Consistent Nuclear Energy System, that simultaneously meets four requirements — energy production, fuel production, burning of radionuclides and safety, strongly relies on the neutron excess generation. Implementation of external non-fission based neutron sources into fission energy system would open the possibility of approaching the Multi-Component Self-Consistent Nuclear Energy System (MC-SCNES) with unlimited fuel resources and zero radioactivity release. This provides strong evidence that nuclear energy could be considered as a base for the future sustainable growth in long perspective.     

Nuclear energy option for energy security and sustainable development in India

India is facing great challenges in its economic development due to the impact on climate change. Energy is the important driver of economy. At present Indian energy sector is dominated by fossil fuel. Due to international pressure for green house gas reduction in atmosphere there is a need of clean energy supply for energy security and sustainable development. The nuclear energy is a sustainable solution in this context to overcome the environmental problem due to fossil fuel electricity generation. This paper examines the implications of penetration of nuclear energy in Indian power sector. Four scenarios, including base case scenario, have been developed using MARKAL energy modeling software for Indian power sector. The least-cost solution of energy mix has been measured. The result shows that more than 50% of the electricity market will be captured by nuclear energy in the year 2045. This ambitious goal can be expected to be achieved due to Indo-US nuclear deal. The advanced nuclear energy with conservation potential scenario shows that huge amounts of CO₂ can be reduced in the year 2045 with respect to the business as usual scenario.     

Radiation Balance in Nuclear Power Growth with BREST-1200 and VVÉR-1000 Reactors

The role of irradiated VVÉR-1000 and RBMK-1000 fuel and irradiated fuel from foreign PWRs in the strategy for growth of future nuclear power production up to 300 GW using BREST-1200 reactors as the main component is examined. The growth time up to 300 GW varies in different variants from 90 to 180 yr. Analysis of the dependence of the potential biological hazard of the wastes on the holding period, taking account of the migrational characteristics, taken by comparing the retainment coefficients of elements in rocks, shows that the time for reaching a balance between the potential biological hazard of the wastes and the raw materials at the end of the period of growth of nuclear power production lies in the range 1–1.5 thousand years. The time to reach radiation equivalence is short at the initial stages of growth and increases gradually; this requires gradual improvement of the fuel reprocessing technology with fewer elements going into the wastes.     

Nuclear power at the next stage: cost-effective breeding, natural safety, radwastes, non-proliferation

To achieve the original and fundamental objective of nuclear power, i.e., to put to use the inexhaustible reserves of cheap fuel, it is essential to develop cost-effective and safe breeders, and to solve the problems of radwastes and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Extensive experience in nuclear technology and studies performed in recent years provide sufficient grounds for choosing in the near future a certain engineering concept, developing the concept and demonstrating it within 15–20 years. In such a case it would be possible to expect that by mid-century, nuclear power will be developed on a large scale to meet a considerable part of the world energy demand increase.     

Toward the 21st century nuclear-science technology

Energy security is vital for the steady growth of the world's welfare and economy and although many novel non-nuclear energy sources are being explored, much less attention is given to nuclear energy. In developing this source, safety, environment protection, and non-proliferation are essential considerations. I have proposed establishing deep underground nuclear parks where not only energy production, but also the processing and transportation of fuel can be carried out in a well protected small area; in the near future they might be operated under international supervision to ensure non-proliferation. The quantum physics on which modern technologies such as nanotechnology, and biotechnology are based, offer a sound foundation. The mathematical and physical technologies developed in the fields of nuclear engineering will provide the fundamental educational basis for such 21st century science and technology.     

Self-consistent model of nuclear power development and fuel cycle

The use of a high-boiling heat-transfer metal (lead) deterministically ensures sufficient nuclear, engineering, and ecological safety in design and hypothetical accidents. The transmutation nuclear fuel cycle makes global environmental safety closer, when the equivalent activity of the long-lived components of hot waste is lower than, or close to, that of the raw material used. When such equality is reached, nuclear power can be considered to be waste-free, in a sense. A conceptual model envisaging a large-scale, long-term nuclear energy industry is proposed as a solution to the aforementioned problems. Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation. NIKIéT (Scientific Research and Design Institute for Power Engineering). Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 86, No. 5, pp. 361–370, May, 1999.     

From conventional nuclear power reactors to accelerator-driven systems

Due to many factors, there is again increase in trend to use the nuclear power for energy production. But spent fuel from nuclear power plants has become one of the crucial problems of nuclear energy exploitation. Some problems attributed to the conventional nuclear power reactors along with their solutions and a historical transition from nuclear power reactors to accelerator-driven systems are briefly reviewed in the present work. It is argued that accelerator-driven systems (ADS), for transmutation of nuclear waste and energy production, are good alternatives to the conventional nuclear power plants. Important differences between the conventional nuclear reactors and the ADS along with the ADS physics are discussed. The ADS is considered to be relatively safe as compared to the other nuclear power reactors commonly in use.     

The Future of Nuclear Power: Energy, Ecology, and Safety

The results are presented of a bilateral meeting of Russian and US experts on The future of nuclear power: energy, ecology, and safety held on July 22–24, 2002 in Moscow. The subject of discussion was the question of how the US and Russia can provide for a future where nuclear energy will support economic growth, improve living conditions, protect the environment, and ensure nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. Several positive points concerning nuclear fuel cycle which emerged and which encourage a reexamination of the future of nuclear power are noted. It is suggested that a four- or fivefold increase by the middle of this century in the production of nuclear energy be considered and discussed as a problem which is important enough to have a global effect on electricity production, energy safety, and mitigation of the greenhouse effect. A prediction is made for the development of global nuclear power in the 21st century. Specific directions of Russian–American collaboration are proposed without setting priorities. The factors that could effectuate successful collaboration are determined.     

核电工程经济数据库

核电工程经济数据库由核电厂经济数据库、核燃料循环经济数据库和核电规划与环境经济数据库三部分组成，用ＯＲＡＣＬＥ Ｖ６．０实现。核电厂经济数据库包括公共经济数据、电厂技术参数、工程投资数据、经济效益数据等内容。核燃料循环经济数据库燃料技术参数和价格数据。核电规划与环境经济数据库由历史经济、预测经济、能源平衡、电力、能源设施等数据组成。     

加速器驱动先进核能系统的乏燃料循环再生研究北大核心CSCD

乏燃料后处理是核燃料循环的关键环节,制约核电的可持续发展。借助于加速器驱动先进核能系统(ADANES)提供的高通量、硬能谱的外源中子,其乏燃料后处理只需除去乏燃料中的挥发性裂变产物和影响次锕系元素嬗变的中子毒物,长寿命的次锕系元素Np、Am、Cm可与二氧化铀一起转化为新的燃料元件在加速器驱动燃烧器中燃烧、嬗变、增殖和产能。基于此,本课题组提出了加速器驱动的乏燃料后处理及再生制备的技术路线,包括高温氧化粉化与挥发、选择性溶解分离和燃料再生制备。本文主要介绍了近几年本课题组在这三方面所取得的一些成就,希望能为加速器驱动先进核能系统的乏燃料后处理提供基础数据。     

加速增产核燃料的天然安全“核热泉”快中子增殖堆

为保证21世纪中国经济的持续稳定地高速增长,必须充分发挥核能的巨大潜力,使之配合其他可再生能源同步增长,及早大规模替代煤炭等化石能源。由于目前国内大量兴建的核电站以压水堆为主,需要消费大量天然铀资源,倚靠廉价铀供应难于维持长期增长,必须依靠快中子增殖生产人造裂变燃料——钚,才能摆脱天然铀原料短缺的束缚。然而,传统的快中子增殖堆的核燃料增产速度较慢,难于配合中国核电的高速增长。本文介绍一种先进快中子增殖堆(AFBR)方案,其中利用在线连续换料的空心球形燃料元件,依靠载热剂的出入口之间的温度差实现满功率自然循环,可以成倍地提高燃料比功率与核燃料增殖速度。本快中子增殖堆改进了俄罗斯称为"天然安全"的BREST铅冷快堆设计方案,成为无须人为控制的"核热泉",它能在不设置加压泵及高位铅池的情况下,自动按外部负荷需要供应必要的热量,完全依靠自然循环将全部裂变热能及停堆后堆芯余热散出,不至对环境产生放射性污染。     

Nuclear-energy complexes and the economic and ecological problems of nuclear power development

Conclusions In the long term, serious economic and ecological problems may arise if the required scale and rate of growth of power production is to be ensured while retaining the principle of dispersed location of ever larger power stations in regions with high population density and a developed infrastructure, since the ecological capacity of these regions is limited. This is particularly true of nuclear power, which in the long term will become the main source of electrical energy.Prospects for a solution to the economic and ecological problems of nuclear power and for an increase in its economic efficiency are offered by the construction of nuclear-energy complexes—large industrial units that contain within a single site a group of atomic power stations of total rated power output of the order of 10–50,000 MW and also the facilities of the external fuel cycle, the complexes being remote from densely populated regions but connected to the centers of energy demand by electrical transmission lines.Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 369–373, November, 1977.     

Small PWRs using coated particle fuel for district heating, PFPWR50

It has been said that nuclear energy is an important option for especially developing countries to satisfy their increasing energy demand. However, it will be difficult to deploy first of a kind nuclear power plant in developing countries because extensive safety demonstration has to be conducted in industrialized countries. On the other hand, it will be essential to present rigid proof of reliable operational experience to develop proper understanding of the safety features of new reactor systems among the people around the demonstration plant sites. One of the ways to solve the issue is to integrate existing technologies supported by a great deal of data and experience into a new reactor design. Based on the consideration, a small-sized district heating reactor system based on the pressurized water reactor (PWR) technologies combined with the fuel concept of high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGRs) has been studied. The purpose of the combination of these two existing concepts is to take the best advantages of both excellent operational experience of PWRs and the integrity of HTGR fuel, coated particle fuel, against fission products release even at high temperature. We expect that this approach will help create a breakthrough to the current stagnation of nuclear power deployment.     

Hydrogen and its relationship with nuclear energy

In broad terms it is estimated that the world will need 17 TW of additional primary energy to meet its needs by 2050. Much of this growth in energy demand will take place in developing countries. Wind, biomass, solar, nuclear and coal will all compete to fill this gap as oil market share declines. Economics, environmental issues, and public acceptance elements of sustainable development goals will be as important as the engineering issues of efficiency and reliability in this competition.

Nuclear power is increasingly recognized as a principal contender to provide economic, “carbon free” electricity for the grid, but it does not directly provide a transportation fuel as flexible as is gasoline. Nuclear-produced hydrogen might help to fill this transportation fuel gap. This presentation will discuss the processes for manufacture of hydrogen from nuclear heat, and the integration of nuclear-produced hydrogen into the transportation fuel system – in part via synergies with traditional oil, natural gas and coal, and/or synergies with nontraditional shale and tar sands. We will discuss the nuclear hydrogen system as we expect it to appear in 2050 and will discuss some of processes that will provide a pathway to creating that system.     

Nuclear energy system for the global environmental regulation in Korea— Energy-economy interaction model analysis

Global environmental regulation such as limits on CO₂ emissions will change the energy cost as well as energy mix, and it will eventually affect the potential economic growth and future energy demand. The rise of energy price from the environmental regulation will encourage the efficiency increase of energy use, fuel switching and the substitution between the energy and the other factors of production like labour and capital. Such situations can be successfully simulated through an energy-economy model which permits two-way interaction between energy and economy.

An analysis on the role of nuclear energy system for meeting the global environmental constraint like CO₂ emission regulation, has been performed through an energy-economy interaction model - EFOM-MACRO-KOREA.

In case carbon taxation which is a widely discussed policy measure for CO₂ abatement should be introduced, the role of nuclear energy in the domestic sustainable energy system as well as the economic impacts has been assessed. For the analysis, various scenarios in tax rate have been considered. Levying carbon tax will decrease future economic growth, and the decrease will be bigger in case that there are some restrictions on nuclear installation. It is shown that nuclear energy system will play an important role in Korean sustainable development up to 2040 in most cases.