Global Civil Nuclear Energy Technology Developments
(India's Status to Follow in the Next Part)
Facts - Historic Milestones:
World's first nuclear reactor was built in 1942 at the University of Chicago. Subsequently, technology developments have resulted in a range of improved reactors operational and in pipeline. Today, the Nuclear reactor designs are categorized by “generation”; that is, Gen 1, 2, 3, 3+, 4 and SMRs:
• Gen 1 - Developed in the 1950-60s. Mostly used natural uranium fuel and used graphite as moderator. The last one shut down at the end of 2015.
• Gen 2 – Either have a boiling-water reactor (BWR) or a pressurized-water reactor (PWR).
• Gen 3 - Gen 3 and 3+ reactors are standardized designs for each type. Safer versions of pressurized reactors evolving from Gen 2 resulting in a longer operational life (designed for 60 years of operation, extendable to 100+ years of operation prior to complete overhaul and reactor pressure vessel replacement).
• Gen 4 - Designs of future reactors to improve safety, efficiency, sustainability, and economics. Many are not pressurized and use thorium or used uranium as fuels.
• SMRs (Small Modular Reactors).
Current Global Operational Reactors by Types - Total 436: Pressurized water reactor (PWR - 307); Boiling water reactor (BWR - 60); Pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR - 47); Advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR - 8); Light water graphite-moderated reactor (LWGR - 11); Fast neutron reactor (FNR – 2); and High temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR - 1).
Fission is used to power the 436 nuclear reactors around the world and requires slamming neutrons into larger atoms to create energy, splitting them into smaller particles. It produces radioactive waste. Fusion, on the other hand, forms a heavier atom when two smaller particles slam together. The result is far more energy than fission, and without the radioactive waste.
2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident Developments
Nuclear energy provided 20 percent of electricity in the United States and more than 25 percent in the European Union and Japan prior to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. The accident prompted a wave of nuclear plant closures across Japan, Europe, and the United States. Consequently, clean electricity has been replaced with dirty power. Today, the Climate Change challenge warrants closure of fossil fuel generating plants. Therefore, policymakers and green advocates across are facing a dilemma: build more nuclear reactors or accept continuing fossil fuels plants. China, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Russia have all demonstrated that it is entirely possible to build cheap, reliable, and safe nuclear power plants. The UK has announced a crash program to build over a dozen new nuclear reactors by 2035.
Advanced Nuclear Reactor Developments
More than a dozen (Gen 3) advanced reactor designs are in various stages of development. Considering the closed fuel cycle, Generation 1-3+ reactors recycle plutonium (and possibly uranium). Advanced PWRs include: US-Japan (GE-Hitachi, Toshiba) ABWR 1380 MWe; USA(Westinghouse) AP600 (PWR) 600 MWe, and AP1000 (PWR) 1200-1250 MWe; Europe (Areva NP) EPR/US-EPR (PWR) 1750 MWe; USA (GE- Hitachi) ESBWR 1600 MWe; Japan (utilities, Mitsubishi) APWR 1530 MWe, US-APWR 1700 MWe and EU-APWR 1700 MWe; South Korea (KHNP, derived from Westinghouse) APR-1400 (PWR)1450 MWe; China CNNC & CGN- ACC1000) 1150 MWe; Europe (Areva NP) Atmea1 (PWR) 1150 MWe; Russia (VVER-1200) (PWR) 1200 MWe; Canada (Candu Energy) Enhanced CANDU-6 - EC6, 750 MWe; China (INET, Chinergy) HTR-PM 2x105 (module).
The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) was initiated in 2000 and formally chartered in mid 2001. Led by the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK are members of the GIF, along with the EU. Russia and China were admitted in 2006. Generation 4 designs are still on the drawing board. The international task force is developing seven nuclear reactor technologies for deployment between 2020 and 2030. All seven systems represent advances in sustainability, economics, safety, reliability and proliferation-resistance. They will tend to have closed fuel cycles and burn the long-lived actinides now forming part of spent fuel, so that fission products are the only high-level waste.
The seven designs selected include: Lead fast reactor (LFR); Sodium fast reactor (SFR); Gas fast reactor (GFR); Very high temperature reactor (VHTR); supercritical water reactor (SCWR); molten salt reactor (MSR); and Liquid metal-cooled reactor. Of seven designs under development, four or five will be fast neutron reactors. Two will be gas-cooled. Only one is cooled by light water, two are helium-cooled and the others have liquid metal coolants (lead-bismuth), sodium or fluoride salt coolant. Hence, they operate at low pressure with significant safety advantage. Temperatures range from 510°C to 1000°C visa-a-vis less than 330°C for light water reactors.
Advantages of Gen 4 reactors include: Nuclear waste that remains radioactive for a few centuries instead of millennia; 100–300x energy yield from the same amount of nuclear fuel; Broader range of fuels; burn nuclear waste and produce electricity: a closed fuel cycle; Improved safety via features such as ambient pressure operation, automatic passive reactor shutdown, alternate coolants, resistant to diversion of materials for weapons proliferation and secure from terrorist attacks.
Multiple proofs of concept Gen 4 designs have been built. For example, the reactors at Fort St. Vrain Generating Station and HTR-10 are similar to the proposed Gen 4 VHTR designs, and the pool type EBR-II, Phénix, BN-600 and BN-800 reactor are similar to the proposed pool type Gen 4 SFR designs. The sizes range from 150 to 1500 MWe (or equivalent thermal) , with the lead-cooled one optionally available as a 50-150 MWe "battery" with long core life (15-20 years without refueling) as a replaceable cassette or entire reactor module. This is designed for distributed generation or desalination.
Most important, many advanced reactor designs are for small units – under 300 MWe between 100 to 200 MW – and in the category of small modular reactors (SMRs). SMRs are more cost-effective to construct compared to the large-scale power plants known for exceeding budgets and missing deadlines. They take barely 4 years for construction and less water. An idea for enabling “tens of thousands of micro nuclear reactors' ', of capacities like 2 MW or 5 MW, producing electricity at around Rs.2.5 a kWhr, has started making rounds among scientists and policy makers. There is a major strategic shift in making. Apart from the normal oxide fuels, other fuel types are metal, TRISO, carbide, nitride, or liquid salt.
China is the only country to have an SMR in operation on land, a reactor in Shidao Bay, Shandong, that was grid-connected in December 2021. Two more SMRs are under construction — a 30 MW unit in Argentina and a 300 MW plant in Russia by 2026-27.
In Russia, the government has launched a floating 70 MW reactor in the Arctic Ocean. It is building its first land-based SMR - 190 MWt (55 MWe) power plant - is designed to operate on 20 per cent enriched uranium, needing only 15 acres. It is expected to go on stream in 2028. The Russian company, Rosatom, intends to build 10 MWe ‘SHELF-M’ reactors by 2030 and fulfills the demand for SMR fuel - high-assay low-enriched Uranium (HALEU). Rosatom is in talks with the Indian nuclear establishment for a possible supply of technology for SMRs.
Westinghouse has designed an eVinci micro reactor, of 13 MW (thermal) capacities. Last Energy (Bret Kugelmass) and TerraPower's Natrium reactor, developed in collaboration with GE Hitachi Nuclear, Energy (Bill Gates) and NuScale Power (SMR) are the three USA firms aiming to build first inexpensive SMRs - off-the-shelf fission reactors. Nuscale is working on a full-scale prototype – a 720-megawatt project for a utility in Idaho. Within two years the reactor will be commissioned. NuScale Power has several projects planned ahead. And the Rolls-Royce Consortium in the UK is working on the development of a 440 MWe SMR.
At the first ever Nuclear Energy Summit held in Brussels on 22 March 2024, over 30 government leaders committed to "fully unlock" the potential of nuclear energy. “Renewables” will play the major role, especially solar supported by wind and hydropower. But, without the support of nuclear power, there is no chance to reach climate targets on time. And, they have committed to support all countries in their efforts to add nuclear energy to their energy mixes. The statement also includes a commitment to the early deployment of advanced reactors, including SMRs worldwide with highest levels of safety/security.
To sum up, globally, nuclear energy has made a big comeback, with the International Energy Agency forecasting that global nuclear power generation will reach a record high by 2050. Nuclear energy is undergoing a major strategic shift, fueled by significant investments and fierce competition in global energy export markets.
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