Generation IV Nuclear Systems: State of the Art and Current Trends with Emphasis on Safety and Security Features

With operating experience gained in recent decades, digital instrumentation development and lessons learned from the accidents at TMI (Three Mile Island), Chernobyl and recently Fukushima, Generation III and III+ reactor designs have incorporated improvements in thermal efficiency and included passive system safety and maintenance costs and capital reduction.There are several designs of these so called advanced reactors and some are being built in the U.S. and China.In 2001, nine countries (Argentina, Republic of Korea, Brazil, Canada, Republic of South Africa, United Kingdom, France, United States and Japan) signed the founding document of Generation IV International Forum (GIF) in order to develop nuclear systems that can fulfill the increasing world electric power needs with high safety, economics, sustainability and proliferation resistance levels [3].The Russian Federation, People´s Republic of China, Switzerland and Euratom have joined this group.Since then, GIF has selected the six most promising reactor system designs to be developed until 2030 and has created research groups on materials, fuel and fuel cycle, conceptual design, safety, thermal-hydraulics, computational methods validation and others in order to develop the necessary technology on an international cooperation basis.According to IAEA [4], an accessible, affordable and sustainable energy source is fundamental to the development of modern society.Current scenarios predict a global demand for primary energy 1.5-3 times higher in 2050 as compared to today, and a 200% relative increase in the demand for electricity.Nuclear power is an important source that should be considered, because it is stable power on a large scale, with virtually no greenhouse gas emissions and low environmental impact as compared to fossil fuels, and can produce heat for chemical processes in industry and for hydrogen generation.In this context, GIF is seeking to develop more economical, sustainable and safe nuclear reactors, from their fuel cycles to decommissioning and waste treatment, and thus meet the world's energy needs.This chapter is organized as follows.Section 2 discusses the goals for Generation IV reactor systems, section 3 discusses the current six Generation IV reactor system design description and research on the subject.Section 4 focuses on the first reports concerning reactor safety and risks [5], particularly the Integrated Safety Assessment Methodology (ISAM).Section 5 addresses economic aspects of this new reactor generation [6].Section 6 concerns the discussion on proliferation resistance and physical protection [7].Section 7 encompasses a set of general conclusions on the subject, addressing mainly the relevance of these nuclear system concepts. Goals for generation IV nuclear energy systemsBefore selecting the reactors that will be part of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), the founding countries of the Generation IV International Forum selected eight key objectives able to make these reactor designs vital in the near future.These eight goals based on concepts of sustainability, economic competitiveness, safety, physical protection and nuclear proliferation resistance are described below [3]

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.