Showing papers on "Nuclear power published in 2015"
TL;DR: Past experiences suggest that common issues were not necessarily physical health problems directly attributable to radiation exposure, but rather psychological and social effects.
191 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed current water withdrawals and consumption for all energy processes and assessed the sector's compliance with the industrial water policy under different scenarios, considering potential future policy and technological changes.
138 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored how low-carbon systems compare to each other in terms of their net effect on Chinese energy security, and how they ought to be ranked and strategized into an optimal and integrated resource plan.
124 citations
TL;DR: To overcome difficulties of risk communication and provide decision aids to protect workers, vulnerable people, and residents after a nuclear disaster, physicians should receive training in nuclear disaster response, which should include evidence-based interventions.
107 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined consumers' willingness to pay for nuclear and renewable electricity as two alternatives to fossil fuels for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and found that the average consumer expressed a negative preference for increases in nuclear power in the fuel mix (to a greater extent in Japan).
98 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach was used to analyze the effects of the combined disaster on people's subjective well-being, finding that people living in a place affected by the tsunami or close to the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant experienced a drop in life happiness, while the effects declined with distance to the place of the disaster.
Abstract: Based on a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences approach, we use panel data for 5979 individuals interviewed in Japan before and after the tsunami and nuclear accident at Fukushima to analyze the effects of the combined disaster on people's subjective well-being. To conduct our analysis, we use Geographical Information Systems to merge the subjective well-being data with information on respondents' distance from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, their proximity to nuclear power stations in general, and the spatial distribution of radioactive fallout after the accident. Our main findings are as follows: (1) After the disaster, people living in a place affected by the tsunami or close to the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant experienced a drop in life happiness, while the effects declined with distance to the place of the disaster. (2) No change in subjective well-being is detectable in people living close to nuclear facilities in general. (3) In contrast to happiness with life after the disaster, no effect on people's happiness with their entire life can be found among those affected by the disaster. (4) The drop in life happiness in municipalities affected by the tsunami is equivalent to 72% of annual income and reaches 240% for those living in close distance to the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant (<= 150 km). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
90 citations
Book•
21 May 2015
TL;DR: The Price of Nuclear Power as discussed by the authors examines how shifting notions of environmental justice inspire divergent views about nuclear power's sustainability and equally divisive forms of social activism and shows that the nuclear renaissance has exacerbated social divisions across the Colorado Plateau, threatening social cohesion, while renewed uranium production is not a socially sustainable form of energy development for rural communities, as it is utterly dependent on unstable global markets.
Abstract: Rising fossil fuel prices and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions are fostering a nuclear power renaissance and a revitalized uranium mining industry across the American West. In The Price of Nuclear Power, environmental sociologist Stephanie Malin offers an on-the-ground portrait of several uranium communities caught between the harmful legacy of previous mining booms and the potential promise of new economic development. Using this context, she examines how shifting notions of environmental justice inspire divergent views about nuclear power's sustainability and equally divisive forms of social activism. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted in rural isolated towns such as Monticello, Utah, and Nucla and Naturita, Colorado, as well as in upscale communities like Telluride, Colorado, and incorporating interviews with community leaders, environmental activists, radiation regulators, and mining executives, Malin uncovers a fundamental paradox of the nuclear renaissance: the communities most hurt by uranium's legacy - such as high rates of cancers, respiratory ailments, and reproductive disorders - were actually quick to support industry renewal. She shows that many impoverished communities support mining not only because of the employment opportunities, but also out of a personal identification with uranium, a sense of patriotism, and new notions of environmentalism. But other communities, such as Telluride, have become sites of resistance, skeptical of industry and government promises of safe mining, fearing that regulatory enforcement won't be strong enough. Indeed, Malin shows that the nuclear renaissance has exacerbated social divisions across the Colorado Plateau, threatening social cohesion. Malin further illustrates ways in which renewed uranium production is not a socially sustainable form of energy development for rural communities, as it is utterly dependent on unstable global markets. The Price of Nuclear Power is an insightful portrait of the local impact of the nuclear renaissance and the social and environmental tensions inherent in the rebirth of uranium mining.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive review of Japan's recent energy and climate policy developments since 2009 and particularly after March 2011 to assess where Japan stands today with regard to the achievement of the long-term global 2°C goal was conducted.
Abstract: In 2009, Japan pledged to reduce its GHG emissions by 25% from 1990 levels by 2020 (“Copenhagen Pledge”). The achievement of the target depended largely on a large expansion of nuclear power. However, this ambitious plan became unfeasible after the Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 2011. This paper conducted a comprehensive review of Japan’s recent energy and climate policy developments since 2009 and particularly after March 2011 to assess where Japan stands today with regard to the achievement of the long-term global 2 °C goal. Japan achieved its mitigation target for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, but it was unsuccessful in reducing domestic GHG emissions in the residential and commercial sectors, and consequently relied more heavily on purchased Kyoto units. With regard to the revised 2020 mitigation target (“Warsaw Target”), when expected emissions reductions through nuclear power is factored out, domestic mitigation under the Warsaw Target was found to be only marginally more ambitious than the target that preceded the Copenhagen Pledge (9% reduction from 1990 levels). Japan cannot make secondary acquisitions of Kyoto units up to 2020 and thus, a bilateral offset scheme (JCM) could become an important credit source. However, its development regarding the additionality of the emissions reductions needs to be tracked carefully. Moreover, the legal underpinning of national mitigation targets and actions was currently found to be very weak in Japan. The review of currently implemented policy measures revealed that among the three key measures considered for achieving the Copenhagen Pledge, only the renewable Feed-In-Tariff scheme was found to be relatively successful to date, but even this is currently under critical scrutiny. Recent new coal-fired power plant construction plans could jeopardize the achievement of both mid-term and long-term mitigation goals. The impact of nuclear power plant restarts on future CO2 emissions was found to be limited around 2030.
69 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on some impediments in the deployment of such novel designs that need to be resolved through testing and qualification of components and equipment, Research and Development (R&D), training and international collaboration.
65 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how Japan laid the policy and legal framework in the 1990s to promote fuel cell and hydrogen development, compared Japan's investment and policy strategies to those in the United States and the European Union, identifies the challenges Japan will face in broadly establishing a hydrogen society, assesses the potential economic benefits it might enjoy if the hydrogen society policy succeeds, and recommends that the new energy policy be more fully integrated with other initiatives to promote economic growth, more efficient communities, and a cleaner environment.
59 citations
TL;DR: In this article, recent advances in Ocean Nuclear Power Plants (ONPPs) are reviewed, including their general arrangement, design parameters, and safety features, and issues and challenges related to ONPPs are discussed and summarized.
Abstract: In this paper, recent advances in Ocean Nuclear Power Plants (ONPPs) are reviewed, including their general arrangement, design parameters, and safety features. The development of ONPP concepts have continued due to initiatives taking place in France, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Russia’s first floating nuclear power stations utilizing the PWR technology (KLT-40S) and the spar-type offshore floating nuclear power plant designed by a research group in United States are considered herein. The APR1400 and SMART mounted Gravity Based Structure (GBS)-type ONPPs proposed by a research group in South Korea are also considered. In addition, a submerged-type ONPP designed by DCNS of France is taken into account. Last, issues and challenges related to ONPPs are discussed and summarized.
TL;DR: In this article, a range of zero-emissions energy scenarios across nations were designed to meet projected final energy demand in 2060, and optimised to derive the best globally aggregated results in terms of minimising costs and land use.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the methodology adopted by the Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire to assess hydrogen risk in nuclear power plants, in particular French nuclear power plant, the open issues, and the ongoing R&D programs related to hydrogen distribution, mitigation, and combustion.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a comparative analysis of nuclear reactor construction costs in France and the United States using expected demand variation as an instrument, and show that the standardization of nuclear reactors under construction has an indirect and positive effect on construction costs through a reduction in lead-time, the latter being one of the main drivers of construction costs.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper proposed that the proportion of non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption to about 20% by 2030, which is 7 to 8 times that of 2005, and the annual increase rate is more than 8% within the 25 years.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the contrast between the civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK and investigate the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries.
Abstract: This paper focuses on arguably the single most striking contrast in contemporary major energy politics in Europe (and even the developed world as a whole): the starkly differing civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK. Germany is seeking entirely to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Yet the UK advocates a ‘nuclear renaissance’, promoting the most ambitious new nuclear construction programme in Western Europe.Here,this paper poses a simple yet quite fundamental question: what are the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries. With nuclear playing such an iconic role in historical discussions over technological continuity and transformation, answering this may assist in wider understandings of sociotechnical incumbency and discontinuity in the burgeoning field of‘sustainability transitions’. To this end, an ‘abductive’ approach is taken: deploying nine potentially relevant criteria for understanding the different directions pursued in Germany and the UK. Together constituted by 30 parameters spanning literatures related to socio-technical regimes in general as well as nuclear technology in particular, the criteria are divided into those that are ‘internal’ and ‘external’ to the ‘focal regime configuration’ of nuclear power and associated ‘challenger technologies’ like renewables.
It is ‘internal’ criteria that are emphasised in conventional sociotechnical regime theory, with ‘external’ criteria relatively less well explored. Asking under each criterion whether attempted discontinuation of nuclear power would be more likely in Germany or the UK, a clear picture emerges. ‘Internal’ criteria suggest attempted nuclear discontinuation should be more likely in the UK than in Germany– the reverse of what is occurring.
‘External’ criteria are more aligned with observed dynamics –especially those relating to military nuclear commitments and broader ‘qualities of democracy’. Despite many differences of framing concerning exactly what constitutes ‘democracy’, a rich political science literature on this point is unanimous in characterising Germany more positively than the UK. Although based only on a single case,a potentially important question is nonetheless raised as to whether sociotechnical regime theory might usefully give greater attention to the general importance of various aspects of democracy in constituting conditions for significant technological discontinuities and transformations. If so, the policy implications are significant. A number of important areas are identified for future research, including the roles of diverse understandings and specific aspects of democracy and the particular relevance of military nuclear commitments– whose under-discussion in civil nuclear policy literatures raises its own questions of democratic accountability.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the risk of energy accidents using an original historical dataset over the period 1874-2014, and evaluate that risk across 11 energy systems: biofuels, biomass, coal, geothermal, hydroelectricity, hydrogen, natural gas, nuclear power, oil, solar energy, and wind energy.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw an overall picture of the nuclear energy development and nuclear safety in China from the policy and institutional perspective, and draw a conclusion that China's approach to nuclear safety provides a benchmark for the safe development and utilization of nuclear power.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the regulatory policy constraints that restricted the effective utilization of existing pumped storage hydroelectricity (PSH) capacity and discouraged investment in new PSH capacity and assessed the likely impact of new policies designed to address them.
TL;DR: Generation-integrated energy storage (GIES) systems store energy at some point along the transformation between the primary energy form and electricity as discussed by the authors, and they have been proposed for wind, nuclear power and they arise naturally in photocatalysis systems that are in development.
TL;DR: In this paper, two descriptive scenarios for the development of the UK energy system to 2050, using four subsequent decadal time-slices, were presented, which were modelled with the use of the DECC 2050 Pathways Calculator.
TL;DR: In this article, the feasibility and impacts of a renewable energy source (RES)-based electricity supply system of future Korea were analyzed, and the results showed that the RES-based system that utilizes wind energy as its main source by steadily decreasing the rate of thermal power for electricity generation is the most affordable for future Korean electricity system.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reexamine this issue for the French nuclear power fleet, using the construction costs from the Cour des Comptes report, that was publicly available in 2012, and find evidence of a learning curve within the same size and type of reactors.
Abstract: Since the first wave of nuclear reactors in 1970 to the construction of Generation III+ reactors in Finland and France in 2005 and 2007 respectively, nuclear power seems to be doomed to a cost escalation curse. In this paper we reexamine this issue for the French nuclear power fleet. Using the construction costs from the Cour des Comptes report, that was publicly available in 2012, we found that previous studies overestimated the cost escalation. Although, it is undeniable that the scale-up ended up in more costly reactors, we found evidence of a learning curve within the same size and type of reactors. This result confirms that standardization is a good direction to look, in order to overcome the cost escalation curse.
TL;DR: In this article, a high temperature electrolysis process was coupled to a high-temperature gas nuclear reactor to produce hydrogen using electricity and heat from nuclear power, with a functional unit of 1 kg of hydrogen, at the plant gate.
TL;DR: To determine the geographical origin of the uranium, the rare-earth-element content and the 87Sr/86Sr ratio were measured and provide evidence that the uranium was mined in the Czech Republic.
Abstract: Here we present a nuclear forensic study of uranium from German nuclear projects which used different geometries of metallic uranium fuel. Through measurement of the (230)Th/(234)U ratio, we could determine that the material had been produced in the period from 1940 to 1943. To determine the geographical origin of the uranium, the rare-earth-element content and the (87)Sr/(86)Sr ratio were measured. The results provide evidence that the uranium was mined in the Czech Republic. Trace amounts of (236)U and (239)Pu were detected at the level of their natural abundance, which indicates that the uranium fuel was not exposed to any major neutron fluence.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare CSP (concentrating solar power) and nuclear power as baseload electricity providers for the case of South Africa, which is adding significant new generation capacity, has an abundant solar resource, but also one existing and additional planned nuclear power plants.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used multi-criteria analysis coupled with composite indicators to infer the sustainability evolution of the power generation sector in Brazil from 2010 to 2016, and indicated wind power and nuclear power plants as the most sustainable options for capacity addition after hydropower.
TL;DR: In this article, a combined analysis of (α, n) reactions, measured on αparticle accelerators with tunable energy and on compounds of actinides with light elements, using reliable data on the stopping power of α-particles for elements from hydrogen to californium, is presented.
Abstract: Accurate data on the neutron yield from the interaction of α-particles with the nuclei of light elements ranging from lithium to potassium are required for solving the problems of nuclear power technologies: development of analytical means for controlling the technological processes of fabricating and reprocessing nuclear fuel, securing radiological protection for workers, improving the systems for managing and monitoring nuclear materials and radioactive wastes, measuring the burnup fraction of spent nuclear fuel, and others. The uncertainty of this information must be <10% for energies ranging from 4 to 9 MeV of α-particles emitted by naturally occurring and artificial radionuclides. The computational uncertainty of the neutron yield can be reduced on the basis of a combined analysis of (α, n) reactions, measured on α-particle accelerators with tunable energy and on compounds of actinides with light elements, using reliable data on the stopping power of α-particles for elements from hydrogen to californium. The results of such an analysis based on experimental and evaluated data for the light isotopes 6Li, 7Li, 9Be, 10B, 11B, 13C, 14N, 17O, 18O, 21Ne, 22Ne, 19F, 23Na, 25Mg, 26Mg, 27Al, 29Si, 30Si, 31P, 33S, 34S, 35Cl, 37Cl, and 41K in the α-particle energy range from 4 to 9 MeV are presented.