Nuclear power generation, renewable resources and endogenous growth

Author(s):  
Riccardo Costantini

The author develops an endogenous growth framework in which energy production is based on a learning by doing technology exploiting renewable reproducible capital and nuclear power plants. Consumption activities generates radioactive waste according to an exogenous factor reflecting the economy energy mix, while an abatement technology, reducing the impact of solid waste accumulation on welfare, is explicitly taken into account. Differently from traditional growth and environmental literature, the author includes an explicit preference for the technology mix by postulating a non separable utility in consumption, radioactive waste and stock of renewable capital. Within this framework the author derives conditions on preferences under which sustained growth is attainable without imposing, ex ante, neither compensation nor a distaste effect characterizing utility. Finally, introducing simplifying assumptions on the preference relation, an investigation of the dynamic property of the equilibrium is provided. The results obtained suggest a high complementarity of renewable capital and nuclear technology exploitation in determining potential long run growth.

MRS Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (61) ◽  
pp. 4075-4080
Author(s):  
Fredrik Vahlund

ABSTRACTSince 1988 the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. operates a repository for low- and intermediate-level short-lived radioactive waste, SFR, in Forsmark, Sweden. Due to decommissioning of the nuclear power plants additional storage capacity is needed. In December 2014, an application to extend the repository was therefore submitted. One key component of this application was an assessment of post-closure safety of the extended SFR. For this safety assessment, a methodology based on that developed by SKB for the spent nuclear fuel repository was used and the impact of the degradation of repository components, the evolution of the surface system and changes of future climate on the radiological safety of the repository was assessed over a period of 100,000 years. The central conclusion of the SR-PSU safety assessment is that the extended SFR repository meets requirements on protection of human health and of the environment that have been established by the Swedish radiation safety authority for the final disposal of radioactive waste. Furthermore, the design of the repository was shown suitable for the waste selected and the applied methodology suitable for the safety assessment.


2014 ◽  
Vol 782 ◽  
pp. 186-190
Author(s):  
Michal Kapusňák ◽  
Ľudovít Kupča

The austenitic cladding of liquid radioactive waste underground storage tanks was recently required to be under continuous corrosion surveillance with aim to monitor its corrosion stability until all radioactive waste will be processed and safely stored. Tanks are intended primarily to be used for long-term storage of radioactive waste water solutions and nascent sediments. Tanks are components of technology designed for post-processing of radioactive sediments by means of cement matrix fixation. This paper is dealing with an example of metallografical methods focused on corrosion processes monitoring using the special surveillance program. The brief information is presented for the preparation of specific long-run corrosion programme and experimental material samples evaluation. General view of the monitoring system is shown in Fig. 1.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1059 ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marián Bujna ◽  
Miroslav Prístavka ◽  
Maroš Korenko ◽  
Petr Dostál

The purpose of this paper is to monitor the amount of discharged radioactive liquid discharges from nuclear power plant and propose ways to reduce the amount given. The report consists of a literature review, objective and methodology proposed. The methodology and results consist of distribution of waste, originally liquid radioactive waste (LRW), a source of LRW, a year-round monitoring of liquid effluents of nuclear power plant and eventual adoption of protective measures. Tritium, as one of the LRW, is a radioactive substance having a negative impact on the environment. In the course of our research, we have found an increased dose of tritium over permitted annual limit. We investigated the impact of tritium on the environment and took protective measures to reduce the amount of tritium released in the environment. The report may serve as a basis for other nuclear power plants and the entire nuclear industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-37
Author(s):  
Arjun K. ◽  
Sanjay Kumar ◽  
A. Sankaran ◽  
Mousumi Das

The present study investigates the impact of human capital, knowledge capital which is a function of human capital, and real exchange rate scenario in explaining long-run industrial total factor productivity (TFP) from 1980 to 2015 on the theoretical basis of the open endogenous growth model. The variables employed in the contemporary study include manufacturing value added (MNVA) as industrial output measure, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) as a measure of capital and labour input which is measured using employment data. Gross enrolment ratio (GER) is taken as a measure for human capital formation, expenditure on research and development (R&D) as a proxy for knowledge capital, and real exchange rate indicates global economic shocks. The study involves estimating TFP for Industrial Sector during the post-liberalization period by employing Cobb-Douglas production function. The ARDL bounds test technique for cointegration revealed long-run relation among the varying factors studied. The Toda-Yamamoto causality test concluded bi-directional causality running between, R&D expenditure and Industrial TFP which sends a strong signal to the policymakers for a well-framed long-term integrated approach for human & knowledge capital formation which will act as a strong impetus for manufacturing firms to come up in terms of augmenting production and productivity and expanding foreign market horizon. JEL Classification: D24, E2, J24


2021 ◽  
Vol 2083 (2) ◽  
pp. 022020
Author(s):  
Jiahuan Yu ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhang

Abstract With the development of the nuclear energy industry and the increasing demand for environmental protection, the impact of nuclear power plant radiation on the environment has gradually entered the public view. This article combs the nuclear power plant radiation environmental management systems of several countries, takes the domestic and foreign management of radioactive effluent discharge from nuclear power plants as a starting point, analyses and compares the laws and standards related to radioactive effluents from nuclear power plants in France, the United States, China, and South Korea. In this paper, the management improvement of radioactive effluent discharge system of Chinese nuclear power plants has been discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Angel Abusleme ◽  
Thomas Adam ◽  
Shakeel Ahmad ◽  
Rizwan Ahmed ◽  
...  

Abstract JUNO is a massive liquid scintillator detector with a primary scientific goal of determining the neutrino mass ordering by studying the oscillated anti-neutrino flux coming from two nuclear power plants at 53 km distance. The expected signal anti-neutrino interaction rate is only 60 counts per day (cpd), therefore a careful control of the background sources due to radioactivity is critical. In particular, natural radioactivity present in all materials and in the environment represents a serious issue that could impair the sensitivity of the experiment if appropriate countermeasures were not foreseen. In this paper we discuss the background reduction strategies undertaken by the JUNO collaboration to reduce at minimum the impact of natural radioactivity. We describe our efforts for an optimized experimental design, a careful material screening and accurate detector production handling, and a constant control of the expected results through a meticulous Monte Carlo simulation program. We show that all these actions should allow us to keep the background count rate safely below the target value of 10 Hz (i.e. ∼1 cpd accidental background) in the default fiducial volume, above an energy threshold of 0.7 MeV.


Author(s):  
Sang-Nyung Kim ◽  
Sang-Gyu Lim

The safety injection (SI) nozzle of a 1000MWe-class Korean standard nuclear power plant (KSNP) is fitted with thermal sleeves (T/S) to alleviate thermal fatigue. Thermal sleeves in KSNP #3 & #4 in Yeonggwang (YG) & Ulchin (UC) are manufactured out of In-600 and fitted solidly without any problem, whereas KSNP #5 & #6 in the same nuclear power plants, also fitted with thermal sleeves made of In-690 for increased corrosion resistance, experienced a loosening of thermal sleeves in all reactors except KSNP YG #5-1A, resulting in significant loss of generation availability. An investigation into the cause of the loosening of the thermal sleeves only found out that the thermal sleeves were subject to severe vibration and rotation, failing to uncover the root cause and mechanism of the loosening. In an effort to identify the root cause of T/S loosening, three suspected causes were analyzed: (1) the impact force of flow on the T/S when the safety SI nozzle was in operation, (2) the differences between In-600 and In-690 in terms of physical and chemical properties (notably the thermal expansion coefficient), and (3) the positioning error after explosive expansion of the T/S as well as the asymmetric expansion of T/S. It was confirmed that none of the three suspected causes could be considered as the root cause. However, after reviewing design changes applied to the Palo Verde nuclear plant predating KSNP YG #3 & #4 to KSNP #5 & #6, it was realized that the second design modification (in terms of groove depth & material) had required an additional explosive energy by 150% in aggregate, but the amount of gunpowder and the explosive expansion method were the same as before, resulting in insufficient explosive force that led to poor thermal sleeve expansion. T/S measurement data and rubbing copies also support this conclusion. In addition, it is our judgment that the acceptance criteria applicable to T/S fitting was not strict enough, failing to single out thermal sleeves that were not expanded sufficiently. Furthermore, the T/S loosening was also attributable to lenient quality control before and after fitting the T/S that resulted in significant uncertainty. Lastly, in a flow-induced vibration test planned to account for the flow mechanism that had a direct impact upon the loosening of the thermal sleeves that were not fitted completely, it was discovered that the T/S loosening was attributable to RCS main flow. In addition, it was proven theoretically that the rotation of the T/S was induced by vibration.


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