Possible use of high-temperature organically-cooled nuclear plants

V. I. Lenin Nuclear Reactor Scientific Research Institute. Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 70, No. 1, pp. 17–20, January, 1971.     

Offshore nuclear power plants

Offshore Power Systems, a joint enterprise of Westinghouse and Tenneco, has been formed to manufacture floating nuclear power plants. Commitments for the first two offshore plants have been received from the Public Service Electric and Gas Company. This paper describes the floating nuclear plant concept with special reference to its advantages and its novel features. The novel features are a consequence of the floating aspect and include the design of the platform, the safety analysis and also the analysis and specification of plant motions due to environmental effects such as wind, waves and earthquakes. Site-related aspects such as the breakwater and mooring systems are discussed. The nuclear power plants will be manufactured in a central facility and this manufacturing concept is described.     

Cosmic thermoemissional nuclear power plants

Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 69, No. 4, pp. 215–219, October, 1990.     

Cost-effectiveness of low-power nuclear power plants

OKMB. Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 75, No. 5, pp. 333-336, November, 1993.     

Risk assessment of nuclear power plants

The objective of the present work is to develop recommendations for controlling the safety of nuclear power plants on the basis of risk assessments and safety certification of nuclear power plants. The Kursk nuclear power plant is considered as an example of a nuclear power plant with an RBMK reactor. The concept of risk assessment of a nuclear power plant consists in constructing a set of scenarios of the appearance and development of possible accidents followed by an evaluation of the realization frequency and determination of the scales of the consequences of each one. The result of an analysis is an evaluation of a system of risk indicators in accordance with the requirements of the safety compliance certificate of the nuclear power plant as well as the development of recommendations for increasing plant safety. In risk assessment, the consequences are divided into categories of the seriousness of the damage, for which their probability is evaluated separately. The graphical interpretation of risk due to any dangerous object consists of frequency–consequences curves. Recommendations are developed on the basis of the results of risk analysis.     

Infrastructure of low-capacity nuclear power plants

Conceptual questions concerning the development of a system of low-capacity nuclear power plants are discussed. The basic properties which the nuclear power facilities of such plants must have are formulated. Questions concerning personnel training, the control characteristics of a system of low-capacity plants, decommissioning, and the requirements for physical protection are examined. The need to develop special normative documentation for low-capacity nuclear power plants is substantiated. Questions concerning the ecological effects of low-capacity power generation are touched upon.     

Detecting small leaks in pipes in nuclear power plants by measuring aerosol parameters

It is found experimentally that when through defects appear in water pipes the concentration and dispersion composition of the aerosols in the room air change. A water or steam leak in a pipe at an early stage of the development of a defect, when the leak still has no effect on the standard operation of the equipment, can be detected by monitoring the aerosol component of the air. The stage where a leak can be detected by aerosol monitoring depends on the background aerosol concentration in the room air, the temperature and pressure in the pipe, and the arrangement of samplers in the monitoring system. The leak-detection method proposed is much more sensitive than moisture content measurements.Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 97, No. 3, pp. 189–195, September, 2004.     

Considering the next generation of nuclear power plants

Nuclear power will be needed for future energy demands, which are expected to grow at different rates around the world. The opportunities for building new nuclear power plants around the world will be depend on need, energy demand growth, and issues related to global warming and climate change. However, four major barriers exist for the expansion of nuclear power: economics, proliferation, safety, and wate. These issues must be addressed in the ongoing research and development of nuclear energy technology and applications. The evolution of nuclear power plant technology is presented as four distinct design generations: (1) prototypes, (2) current operating plants, (3) advanced light water reactor technology, and (4) revolutionary design concepts (i.e., Generation IV) that are now under development. The U.S. DOE Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) program is focused on the research and development of Generation IV designs that are safe, economic, proliferation-resistant, and will address current waste issues. NERI provides grants for independently peer-reviewed proposals from universities, national laboratories and industry for advanced nuclear research and development. Several NERI projects awarded in 1999 are described in terms of how they remove barriers to nuclear power plant expansion. Another DOE effort, the Accelerator Transmutation of Waste program, will seek to reduce and ameliorate civilian reactor waste. The Accelerator Transmutation of Waste program will involve a six-year science-based research plan to define key technical issues. Finally, the need for international collaboration is stressed for fourth-generation nuclear power technology development.     

Flood hazards for nuclear power plants

Flooding hazards for nuclear power plants may be caused by various external geophysical events. In this paper the hydrologic hazards from flash floods, river floods and heavy rain at the plant site are considered. Depending on the mode of analysis, two types of hazard evaluation are identified: (a) design hazard which is the probability of flooding over an expected service period, and (b) operational hazard which deals with real-time forecasting of the probability of flooding of an incoming event. Hazard evaluation techniques using flood frequency analysis can only be used for type (a) design hazard. Evaluation techniques using rainfall-runoff simulation or multi-station correlation can be used for both types of hazard prediction.     

Welding consumables for nuclear power plants

In nuclear power plants, submerged arc welding and covered arc welding have long been employed especially for main weld seams, including the core region of RPV.This paper investigates the mechanical properties of several welding consumables we have developed for industrial plants — that is, welding consumables which lower the phosphorus and copper content of the welded metal, those for plates possessing particularly high tensile strength and those for the narrow gap welding method.Recent data derived from irradiation embrittlement tests show that these welded metals using a non-copper coating are highly effective in minimizing shifts in the transition curve.Welding consumables for A533B C1.2, A543 C1.1 or A508 C1.4 steels have a higher tensile strength than those for A533B C1.1 or A508 C1.3.We have developed submerged arc and covered arc welding consumables to be used with these kinds of steels, and it was confirmed that these consumables possess excellent tensile strength and notch toughness.Our tests also confirmed that the narrow gap SAW and MIG welds are more efficient than the conventional ones. Moreover, the mechanical properties of the welded metals are also excellent.     

Managing aging in nuclear power plants

Aging degradation in nuclear power plants must be controlled to prevent safety margins from declining below limits provided in plant design bases. The NPAR Program and other aging-related programs conducted under the auspices of the NRC Office of Research are developing needed technical guidance for control of aging. Results from these programs, together with relevant information developed by industry and elsewhere, are implemented through various ongoing NRC and industry programs and initiatives as well as by means of conventional regulatory instruments. The aging control process central to these efforts consists of three key elements: (1) selection of components, systems, and structures (CSS) in which aging must be controlled, (2) understanding of the mechanisms and rates of degradation in these CSS, and (3) managing degradation through effective surveillance and maintenance. These elements are addressed in Recommended Practices Guidance that integrates information developed under NPAR and other studies of aging into a systems-oriented format that tracks directly with the Safety Analysis Reports and with the NRC Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800).     

Small nuclear power plants based on ship-propulsion nuclear reactors

NIKIéT. Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 77, No. 6, pp. 407–414, December, 1994.     

Economic efficiency of new-generation nuclear power plants

IBRAé RAN. Translated from Atomnaya énergiya, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 114–123, August, 1996.