Sustainable Nuclear Power

Sustainable Nuclear Power provides non-nuclear engineers, scientists and energy planners with the necessary information to understand and utilize the major advances in the field. The book demonstrates that nuclear fission technology has the abundance and attainability to provide centuries of safe power with minimal greenhouse gas generation. It also addresses the safety and disposal issues that have plagued the development of the nuclear power industry and scared planners and policy makers as well as the general public for more than two decades. In addition, the authors provide a Companion website, http://books.elsevier.com/companions, which gives access to government reports and case studies *No need for a background in nuclear science! This book guides engineers, scientists and energy professionals through a concise and easy-to-understand overview of key safety and sustainability issues affecting their work. *Details the very latest information about today's safest and most energy-efficient reactor designs and reprocessing procedures. *Brings to light the fears and hesitation of using nuclear energy and explains that technologies and procedures for safe production and processing are available today.

Unlike existing books of nuclear reactor physics, nuclear engineering and nuclear chemical engineering this book covers a complete description and evaluation of nuclear fission power generation. It covers the whole nuclear fuel cycle, from the extraction of natural uranium from ore mines, uranium conversion and enrichment up to the fabrication of fuel elements for the cores of various types of fission reactors. This is followed by the description of the different fuel cycle options and the final storage in nuclear waste repositories. In addition the release of radioactivity under normal and possible accidental conditions is given for all parts of the nuclear fuel cycle and especially for the different fission reactor types.

Sustainable Nuclear Power provides non-nuclear engineers, scientists and energy planners with the necessary information to understand and utilize the major advances in the field. The book demonstrates that nuclear fission technology has the abundance and attainability to provide centuries of safe power with minimal greenhouse gas generation. It also addresses the safety and disposal issues that have plagued the development of the nuclear power industry and scared planners and policy makers as well as the general public for more than two decades. No need for a background in nuclear science! This book guides engineers, scientists and energy professionals through a concise and easy-to-understand overview of key safety and sustainability issues affecting their work. Details the very latest information about today's safest and most energy-efficient reactor designs and reprocessing procedures. Brings to light the fears and hesitation of using nuclear energy and explains that technologies and procedures for safe production and processing are available today.

Transforming the energy system is at the core of the dedicated sustainable development goal on energy within the new United Nations development agenda. This publication explores the possible contribution of nuclear energy to addressing the issues of sustainable development through a large selection of indicators. It reviews the characteristics of nuclear power in comparison with alternative sources of electricity supply, according to economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability. The findings summarized in this publication will help the reader to consider, or reconsider, the contribution that can be made by the development and operation of nuclear power plants in contributing to more sustainable energy systems.

With the nuclear issue back on the agenda worldwide, this highly topical collection steers a path through the controversies, presenting the views of proponents of nuclear expansion, examining the challenges that face them and exploring the arguments of those who support alternative approaches.

We are fortunate to live in incredibly exciting and incredibly challenging time. Energy demands due to economic growth and increasing population must be satisfied in a sustainable manner assuring inherent safety, efficiency and no or minimized environmental impact. These considerations are among the reasons that lead to serious interest in deploying nuclear power as a sustainable energy source. At the same time, catastrophic earthquake and tsunami events in Japan resulted in the nuclear accident that forced us to rethink our approach to nuclear safety, design requirements and facilitated growing interests in advanced nuclear energy systems. This book is one in a series of books on nuclear power published by InTech. It consists of six major sections housing twenty chapters on topics from the key subject areas pertinent to successful development, deployment and operation of nuclear power systems worldwide. The book targets everyone as its potential readership groups - students, researchers and practitioners - who are interested to learn about nuclear power.

In March 1981 the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) published the results of a global energy study looking fifty years into the future: Energy in a Finite World: A Global Systems Analysis (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger Publishing Co. , 1981)*. Not surprisingly, this book raises almost as many questions as it answers; thus, it defines a broad range of research topics that might be taken up by IIASA or other research institutions around the world. A 25-27 May 1981 workshop at IIASA entitled "A Perspective on Adaptive Nuclear Energy Evolutions: Towards a World of Neutron Abundance" was a beginning on one of these topics; it was organized by Wolf Hafele (Kernforschungsanlage Ji. ilich, Jiilich, Federal Republic of Germany, and IIASA) and Arkadius Archie Harms (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada). The origin of this workshop was the effort with in the IIASA energy study to explore possible "sustainable" global energy systems that might eventually replace the current "consumptive" system. In investigating the possible contributions nuclear technologies might make to a sustainable energy system, it had become clear that it is not so much particular, distinct technologies within the nuclear family that should be examined as a question of particularly advantageous configurations of mutually complementary technologies. Only when one considers exploiting a whole spectrum of arrangements of fission breeders, fusion reactors, and accelerators does the true potential of nuclear power become apparent.

This book captures the status of current electrical energy markets including the principal forces affecting decisions on selecting an energy source. It represents a seminal work that lays out the electrical energy decision tree for selecting an energy source in a world that is on the verge of catastrophic global warming because of the choices that have been made in the name of cheap energy. The impetus for this book includes the dire need to mitigate continued anthropogenic causes of global warming by turning to carbon free energy sources. Nuclear energy represents such a carbon-free energy source and could be a partial solution to the existential threat facing future society---the threat of a warming planet and its consequential, catastrophic effects on future generations. The world is at a crossroads in human interaction with their environment. The effects of radiation and the relationship of nuclear power to nuclear weapons are both discussed in an understandable and compelling manner. Nuclear energy is contrasted with other energy sources including fossil fuels and renewable energy sources regarding the risks and benefits imposed by each. Important personalities and world events that shaped nuclear power's development are recounted. The historical origins of nuclear power are outlined and the continued impetus to include nuclear power as part of the electric grid energy mix is assessed exposing the obstacles and road blocks to the continued use of nuclear power. Specific attention is paid to revealing the causes and lessons learned from the three severe accidents in commercial nuclear plants: TMI-2, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. An extensive discussion of nuclear waste disposal is provided as part of the decision tree for energy selection. The context for the future of nuclear power as a viable energy source is illuminated by the current battle between economic growth and the harm created by burning fossil fuels. The status of the world's climate and projections for the disruptive effects of global warming on future populations, migration, economics, and world strife are debated against the backdrop of an increasing world population and the drive by developing nations to achieve economic parity with the industrialized nations. Within the context of increased world strife, the quest by nations to obtain nuclear weapons is also discussed. The steps taken by the world to limit nuclear weapons proliferation are examined with emphasis on potential links between nuclear power generation and access to nuclear weapons.The final chapter discusses the moral responsibility of current generations with respect to future generations, specifically, the applicability of "intergenerational equity" in political and social decision-making regarding the actions that add to global warming and those risk averse actions that can be taken to minimize global warming.

Asset management plays an important role in maintaining the competitiveness of nuclear power plants in a challenging and changing electricity market. The value of effective asset management is in providing support to those making decisions seeking the optimum level of financial performance, operational performance and risk exposure. This publication provides information on various methodologies, good practices and approaches to manage assets in nuclear power plants currently in operation or in other operational nuclear facilities. Information relevant to new build and decommissioning environments is also provided.

As the world’s energy sources continue to develop, with less reliance on traditional fossil fuels and more reliance on cleaner, more efficient, alternative energy sources, nuclear power continues to be a dividing point for many people. Some believe it is the answer to our energy problems for the future, while others warn of the risks. Written by a retired scientist who spent most of his career at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), this book aims to delve into the issues surrounding nuclear power and dispel its myths, while building an argument for why the United States should develop a nuclear power plan for the future. As a “whistleblower,” the author spent much of the last ten years of his career at the INL raising concerns about how its mission of serving as the Department of Energy’s lead laboratory in radioactive waste management was not being properly managed. While the United States continues to tread water on the issue of nuclear energy, the author believes that a nuclear “renaissance” is not only possible but is necessary for meeting the world’s growing demand for energy, especially clean energy. With fossil fuels slowly dying out and renewable energy sources not able to handle the demand for a continuously growing energy-consuming public, nuclear is an obvious solution. This book is a must-have for any engineer working in nuclear power, students hoping to go into that industry, and other engineers and scientists interested in the subject. This book is both “technical” and “political” because they’re equally important in determining what actually happens in institutions dealing with technical problems.