Showing papers on "Nuclear power published in 2002"

Radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry

Abstract: Origin of Nuclear Science Nuclei, Isotopes and Isotope Separation Nuclear Mass and Stability Unstable Nuclei and Radioactive Decay Radionuclides in Nature Absorption of Nuclear Radiation Radiation Effects on Matter Detection and Measurement Techniques Uses of Radioactive Tracers Cosmic Radiation and Elementary Particles Nuclear Structure Energetics of Nuclear Reactions Particle Accelerators Mechanics and Models of Nuclear Reactions Production of Radionuclides The Transuranium Elements Thermonuclear Reactions: the Beginning and the Future Radiation Biology and Radiation Protection Principles of Nuclear Power Nuclear Power Reactors Nuclear Fuel Cycle Behavior of Radionuclides in the Environment Appendices Solvent Extraction Separations Answers to Exercises Isotope Chart Periodic Table of the Elements Quantities and Units Fundamental Constants Energy Conversion Factors Element and Nuclide Index Subject Index

Development of fuels and structural materials for fast breeder reactors

Abstract: Fast breeder reactors (FBRs) are destined to play a crucial role in the Indian nuclear power programme in the foreseeable future. FBR technology involves a multi-disciplinary approach to solve the various challenges in the areas of fuel and materials development. Fuels for FBRs have significantly higher concentration of fissile material than in thermal reactors, with a matching increase in burn-up. The design of the fuel is an important aspect which has to be optimised for efficient, economic and safe production of power. FBR components operate under hostile and demanding environment of high neutron flux, liquid sodium coolant and elevated temperatures. Resistance to void swelling, irradiation creep, and irradiation embrittlement are therefore major considerations in the choice of materials for the core components. Structural and steam generator materials should have good resistance to creep, low cycle fatigue, creep-fatigue interaction and sodium corrosion. The development of carbide fuel and structural materials for the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam was a great technological challenge. At the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), advanced research facilities have been established, and extensive studies have been carried out in the areas of fuel and materials development. This has laid the foundation for the design and development of a 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor. Highlights of some of these studies are discussed in this paper in the context of our mission to develop and deploy FBR technology for the energy security of India in the 21st century.

Nuclear terrorismCommentary: The myth of nuclear deterrence in south AsiaCommentary: The psychology of terrorists

Abstract: # Nuclear terrorism {#article-title-2} Three members of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Physicians for Social Responsibility discuss the threat of nuclear terrorism and conclude that the only effective way to tackle it is to abolish nuclear weapons The attack on the World Trade Center in New York clearly showed that there are terrorists who are willing to inflict civilian casualties on the scale that would be expected with the use of a weapon of mass destruction. In this article we consider the form that nuclear terrorism could take and estimate the casualties that would occur if a nuclear bomb the size of that dropped on Hiroshima was detonated in a large urban area. The enormous casualties to be expected from such an attack argue strongly for a strategy of primary prevention. #### Summary points In the aftermath of 11 September 2001 nuclear terrorism has emerged as a real threat Nuclear terrorism could take several forms, from an attack on nuclear power plants and reactors to the detonation of a nuclear bomb in an urban area The international community urgently needs to expand its efforts to secure existing stockpiles of nuclear weapons and materials, particularly in Russia, Pakistan, and India The elimination of nuclear weapons should be high on the global public health agenda Nuclear terrorism might take several forms. An attack on a nuclear power plant or other nuclear installation could result in a massive release of radioactive material. Despite initial statements by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that commercial power plants could withstand an aircraft crashing into them, it seems likely these plants are highly vulnerable. As early as 1982 a study by the Argonne National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy found that, if a jet aircraft crashed into a nuclear reactor and only 1% of its fuel ignited after … Correspondence to: Z A Bhutta

Accelerator-driven sub-critical reactor system (ADS) for nuclear energy generation

Abstract: In this talk we present an overview of accelerator-driven sub-critical reactor systems (ADS), and bring out their attractive features for the elimination of troublesome long-lived components of the spent fuel, as well as for nuclear energy generation utilizing thorium as fuel. In India, there is an interest in the programmes of development of high-energy and high-current accelerators due to the potential of ADS in utilizing the vast resources of thorium in the country for nuclear power generation. The accelerator related activities planned in this direction will be outlined.

High efficiency generation of hydrogen fuels using thermochemical cycles and nuclear power

Abstract: The purpose of this work is to determine the potential for efficient, cost-effective, large-scale production of hydrogen utilizing high temperature heat from an advanced nuclear power station in a thermochemical water-splitting cycle. We carried out a detailed literature search of all published thermochemical cycles, creating a searchable database with more than 100 cycles and 800 references. We developed screening criteria and did detailed evaluation to select two cycles that appear most promising, the Adiabatic UT-3 cycle and the Sulfur-Iodine cycle. We selected the Sulfur-Iodine cycle for further development. We then conducted a broad-based assessment of the suitability of various nuclear reactor types to the production of hydrogen from water using the Sulfur-Iodine cycle. A basic requirement is the ability to deliver heat to the process interface heat exchanger at temperatures up to 900 °C. We developed a set of requirements and criteria, considering design, safety, operational, economic and development issues. We identified the gas-cooled reactor, the heavy liquid metal-cooled reactor and the molten salt-cooled reactor as suitable for coupling to the S-I cycle, selecting the helium gas-cooled reactor for our design. In the third phase of this work, we are generating an integrated flowsheet describing a thermochemical hydrogen production plant powered by a high-temperature helium gas-cooled nuclear reactor. This will allow us to calculate the hydrogen production efficiency and capital cost and to estimate the cost of the hydrogen produced as a function of the nuclear plant cost.

Nuclear Japan: Oxymoron or coming soon?

Abstract: Comments by two Japanese government officials earlier this year have reinforced realist predictions and international suspicion that Japan might choose to pursue nuclear proliferation. Yet, Japan is not willing, interested, or able to become a nuclear power.

Gamma radiation resistant Fabry–Perot fiber optic sensors

Abstract: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1998 completed a study of emerging technologies that could be applicable to measurement systems in nuclear power plants [H. M. Hashemian et al., “Advanced Instrumentation and Maintenance Technologies for Nuclear Power Plants,” NUREG/CR-5501 (1998)]. This study concluded that advanced fiber optic sensing technology is an emerging technology that should be investigated. It also indicated that there had been very little research related to performance evaluation of fiber optic sensors in nuclear plant harsh environments, although substantial research has been performed on nuclear radiation effects on optical fibers in the last two decades. A type of Fabry–Perot fiber optic temperature sensor, which is manufactured by Fiso Technologies in Canada, is qualified to be a candidate for potential applications in nuclear radiation environment due to its unique signal processing technique and its resistance to power loss. The gamma irradiation effects on this type of sensors...

Autonomy's End: Nuclear Power and the Privatization of the British Electricity Supply Industry

Abstract: Despite their obvious limitations as explanatory concepts, `technological autonomy' and `determinism' have often been associated with nuclear power. This paper reviews the persistency of notions of `autonomy' and `determinism' in the context of the British nuclear power programme. In the corporatist and technocratic setting of the nationalized British Electricity Supply Industry (ESI), the perceived imperatives of nuclear power technology were often allowed priority in policymaking, to the extent that an appearance of the technology's autonomy and determinism was maintained for 30 years. This had its conveniences: technical rationales disguised more contestable institutional and political interests supporting the programme. At the same time, senior politicians and scientists at times displayed a faith in the technology approximating a belief in its autonomy and deterministic power, particularly during geopolitical or industrial crises.ESI privatization was associated with the marginalization of nuclear po...

Nuclear Production of Hydrogen Using Thermochemical Water-Splitting Cycles

Abstract: The purpose of this work is to determine the potential for efficient, cost-effective, large-scale production of hydrogen utilizing high-temperature heat from an advanced nuclear power station in a thermochemical water-splitting cycle. We carried out a detailed literature search to create a searchable database with 115 cycles and 822 references. We developed screening criteria to reduce the list to 25 cycles. We used detailed evaluation to select two cycles that appear most promising, the Adiabatic UT-3 cycle and the Sulfur-Iodine cycle. We have selected the Sulfur-Iodine thermochemical water-splitting cycle for further development. We then assessed the suitability of various nuclear reactor types to the production of hydrogen from water using the Sulfur-Iodine cycle. A basic requirement is to deliver heat to the process interface heat exchanger at temperatures up to 900 deg. C. We considered nine categories of reactors: pressurized water-cooled, boiling water-cooled, organic-cooled, alkali metal-cooled, heavy metal-cooled, gas-cooled, molten salt-cooled, liquid-core and gas-core reactors. We developed requirements and criteria to carry out the assessment, considering design, safety, operational, economic and development issues. This assessment process led to our choice of the helium gas-cooled reactor for coupling to the Sulfur-Iodine cycle. In continuing work, we are investigating the improvements that havemore » been proposed to the Sulfur-Iodine cycle and will generate an integrated flowsheet describing a hydrogen production plant powered by a high-temperature helium gas-cooled nuclear reactor. This will allow us to size process equipment and calculate hydrogen production efficiency and capital cost, and to estimate the cost of the hydrogen produced as a function of nuclear reactor cost. (authors)« less

Evolution of the indian nuclear power program

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Presently, India occupies a leading place among Asian nations in the indigenous design, development, construction, and operation of nuclear power reactors. Nuclear power generation in India is based on a three-stage plan to eventually make use of the abundant national resources of thorium, through the use of fast breeder reactors. To achieve this long-range goal, India had to necessarily start with setting up heavy water–moderated, natural uranium–fueled power reactors to produce the plutonium required for the subsequent stages. But, as a result of India's nuclear weapon test in 1974, the developed nations imposed a comprehensive ban on the export of nuclear materials and technology to India, and these sanctions are still in force. This article outlines the steps followed by India to successfully counter these sanctions over the last 25 years and presents a critical evaluation of the potential problems and prospects of nuclear power in India.

New Designs for the Nuclear Renaissance

Abstract: The next generation of nuclear power plants could help satisfy the world’s energy needs and support a hydrogen-based economy.

Phasing-Out Nuclear Power Generation in Germany: Policies, Actors, Issues and Non-Issues

Abstract: The phase-out of nuclear power in Germany is one of the priorities of the Red-Green Government which took office in October 1998. Despite continuous and broad-based public criticism, up until 1998 federal nuclear policies had sided with the pro-nuclear alliance and supported the industry through a number of tax and regulatory privileges. Thus, the phase-out decision marks a fundamental revision of past nuclear policy guidelines. After one-and-a-half years of negotiations between industry and government, in the course of which a number of controversies had to be solved, agreement was reached on the gradual phasing-out of nuclear energy use in Germany on June 14, 2000. The paper presents the actors' policies, analyses issues and non-issues in the negotiations. It shows that different positions within the Federal Government and the lack of support from the anti-nuclear movement for the Government's phase-out strategy strengthened the industry's ability to assert their position. The industry's motivation for ...

Overview of materials technologies for space nuclear power and propulsion

Abstract: A wide range of different space nuclear systems are currently being evaluated as part of the DOE Special Purpose Fission Technology program. The near-term subset of systems scheduled to be evaluated range from 50 kWe gas-, pumped liquid metal-, or liquid metal heat pipe-cooled reactors for space propulsion to 3 kWe heat pipe or pumped liquid metal systems for Mars surface power applications. The current status of the materials technologies required for the successful development of near-term space nuclear power and propulsion systems is reviewed. Materials examined in this overview include fuels (UN, UO2, UZrH), cladding and structural materials (stainless steel, superalloys, refractory alloys), neutron reflector materials (Be, BeO), and neutron shield materials (B4C,LiH). The materials technologies issues are considerably less demanding for the 3 kWe reactor systems due to lower operating temperatures, lower fuel burnup, and lower radiation damage levels. A few reactor subcomponents in the 3 kWe reactors...

Nuclear Power and Energy Security: A Revised Strategy for Japan

Abstract: SUMMARY During the period of nuclear power’s rapid growth, shared assumptions regarding uranium resources and technological capabilities led the majority of industrial nations to remarkably similar strategies for nuclear power deployment. These common assumptions motivated the choice, more than 40 years ago, of the Light Water Reactor (LWR) as the near-term power reactor, to be followed, as soon as possible, by the introduction and deployment of the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR). The FBR, which uses much less uranium than an LWR of the same capacity, was a crucial part of the strategy because uranium was then believed to be a scarce resource. This strategy, based on the LWR producing the startup fuel for the FBR, implicitly included spent fuel reprocessing, plutonium recycle, and disposal of separated wastes in geologic repositories. Nations with limited indigenous energy reserves, most notably France and Japan, made particularly strong commitments to this strategy. This article was originally presented as a paper at the PARES Workshop: Energy Secu

Difference in the Formation of Attitude Toward Nuclear Power

Abstract: Determinants of attitudes toward nuclear power in Japan were assessed in a March 1999 survey. The results suggested that persons with interest in and knowledge about nuclear power judged its acceptability on the basis of their perceptions of the sufficiency of electric power and the risks of nuclear power, whereas persons with no interest in and knowledge of nuclear power did not respond on this basis. Although both types of respondents based acceptability on their trust in nuclear power operation and their perception of efficiency, the influence of perception of efficiency on acceptability was stronger for the interested and knowledgeable respondents than for the others. These results partially support the elaboration likelihood model or dual process theory.

Swedish nuclear power and economic rationalities

Abstract: The economic characteristics of nuclear power, with high investment cost and fuel costs lower than conventional fuels, make it possible to achieve low electricity prices when reactors supply marginal electricity. The support for nuclear power by the Swedish electricity consuming industry may be understood as efforts to create and defend a situation of over-capacity in the electricity production sector rather than as support for nuclear power as such. Politically the external costs of routine emissions of radioactive materials are difficult to internalise because they, like carbon dioxide, have global long-term effects. However, like the air pollutants already regulated, costs of reactor accidents, as well as the motives for taking on management costs of nuclear waste, are regional and within a generation in time. The market evaluation of accident risks has been deliberately destroyed by legislation set to favour nuclear power reactors. Societal economic rationality may be successfully applied in the energ...

Hydrogen from Fossil Fuels without Co2 Emissions

Abstract: In the nearto medium-term future, hydrogen production will continue to rely on fossil fuels, primarily natural gas (NG). It is generally understood that the renewable energy-based processes of hydrogen production (photoelectrochemical and photobiological decomposition of water, solar-photovoltaic water electrolysis, thermochemical and hybrid water splitting cycles, etc.) would unlikely yield significant reduction in hydrogen costs in the next 1-2 decades. The future of nuclear power systems, a relatively clean and abundant energy source, still remains uncertain due to strong public opposition. In general, given the advantages inherent in fossil fuels such as their availability, cost-competitiveness, convenience of storage and transportation, they are likely to play a major role in global energy supply for the next century. On the other hand, fossil fuels are major source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Various scenarios of global energy use in the next century predict a continued increase in CO2 emissions that would gradually rise its concentration in the atmosphere to dangerous levels. It is clear that the industrialized world would not be able to retain present living standards and meet challenges of global warming, unless major changes are made in the way we produce energy, and manage carbon emissions. There are several possible ways to mitigate CO2 emission problems. Among them are traditional approaches including: (i) more efficient use of fossil fuel energy resources, (ii) increased use of clean fossil fuels, such as NG, and (iii) increased use of non-fossil fuels (nuclear power and renewable sources). The novel and most radical approach to effectively manage carbon emissions is the decarbonization of fossil fuels. Three main scenarios of fossil fuels decarbonization are currently discussed in the literature:

Future Nuclear Power Systems and Nuclear Data Needs

Abstract: The improved knowledge of nuclear data will continue to play a crucial role in any scenario of nuclear power development. The purpose of this paper is to give some indications in support of that statement, despite the uncertainties on what type of nuclear power development will prevail in future.[“Q : What do you want to do with this stick ? A : I want to measure the depth of water. Q : But here there is no water. What could you measure ? Chao-chu did not answer. He leant on his stick and went away” Master Dogen].

Monitoring of radionuclides in the vicinities of Finnish nuclear power plants in 1995 and 1996

Abstract: The monitoring of radioactive substances around Finnish nuclear power plants continued in 1997-1998 in accordance with the regular programmes. Altogether, about 1000 samples from the terrestrial and aquatic environs of the two power plant sites are analysed annually. Trace amounts of activation products originating from airborne releases from the local power plants were detected in several air and deposition samples. Discharged nuclides were more abundant in the aquatic environment, especially in samples of indicator organisms, sinking matter and sediments. However, the concentrations were so low that they did not significantly increase the radiation burden in the environment. The dominant artificial radionuclides in the vicinity of the power plants were still the cesium isotopes, especially 137Cs but also 134Cs which originated from the Chernobyl accident. In seawater, elevated 3H concentrations were more frequent in Loviisa, but no traces of other discharge nuclides were detected. At Olkiluoto, small amounts of 60Co were detected in seawater samples taken during the maintenance outages of the power plant. The concentrations of local discharge nuclides in indicator organisms and sinking matter were somewhat higher and their distribution range was wider in the sea area off Olkiluoto.