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Nuclear energy
Published in Peter M. Schwarz, Energy Economics, 2023
The new millennium saw the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 give rise to higher energy costs and renewed calls for energy independence. In addition, there was mounting concern about carbon emissions and climate change. There was talk of a nuclear renaissance, a return to building new nuclear plants, to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy security. In 2005, the U.S. Energy Policy Act aimed to propel that renaissance. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proffered loan guarantees to electric utilities willing to build new plants with more advanced designs than existing plants. The goal was to gain experience and bring down the costs of the new technology. By 2007, DOE had received 16 applications to build new reactors. However, when the Great Recession began shortly thereafter, many of the utilities withdrew their plans. And before the economy and the industry could fully recover, there was another nuclear accident.
Issues Facing New Nuclear Build
Published in William J. Nuttall, Nuclear Renaissance, 2022
As discussed in Chapter 3, a key driver of the Nuclear Renaissance is the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity generation. The carbon content of electricity generation around the world is summarised in Figure II.4.2. The low carbon emissions associated with French nuclear power generation are clearly visible. Norway and New Zealand achieve a good result via the extensive use of renewable hydropower, made possible by mountainous terrain and high rainfall. Sweden is also very well positioned via its combined use of renewables and nuclear power. It is interesting to note that Germany and the United States perform similarly well and that the United Kingdom is slightly ahead of both countries, as shown in the histogram.
The Other Energy Sources
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Power Generation and the Environment, 2021
Talk about “nuclear renaissance” has been on the increase in the last several years, and the construction of several new reactors began in the early 2010s. However, as a result of the 2011 Japanese nuclear accident, and the persisting global economic crisis, most of the newly planned nuclear plant projects were canceled. Now, only five new reactors are expected to enter service by 2020.
Study on the two-way corrugated aluminum honeycomb as a filler material in impact limiters for spent fuel transport casks
Published in Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2019
Zhongfang Li, Siyi Yang, Haile Xu, Yukun An, Ertuan Zhao
In recent years, there has been a ‘nuclear renaissance’ due to the perception of nuclear power as a kind of green renewable energy. Hence, the nuclear power is predicted to experience large-scale development in the coming decades [1–3]. However, massive scale nuclear energy construction leads to the production of a large amount of spent fuel. Spent fuel decays, has high radioactivity, and contains a considerable amount of fissile material that can cause great harm if not handled properly [4,5]. Thus, there will be a need for high safety spent fuel transport casks. To ensure the integrity of a transport cask under normal transport and accident conditions, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued the ‘Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials’ document [6]. In addition, China had developed the GB11806 standards based on this document [7]. A transport cask needs to be tested and withstand a 9-m fall test, a 1-m penetration test, a 30-min fire (800°C), and a 200-m immersion test. In the first test, the cask needs to withstand a 9-m free fall onto an unyielding surface. This requires the addition of a pair of impact limiters installed on the top and the bottom of the transport cask to absorb most of the impact energy and limit overload, which can ensure the integrity of the cask structure.