Nuclear power continues in the world

Oil, gas, coal, nuclear (PWR, EPR, hot fusion, ITER), gas and coal thermal power plants, cogeneration, tri-generation. Peakoil, depletion, economics, technologies and geopolitical strategies. Prices, pollution, economic and social costs ...
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by moinsdewatt » 10/09/20, 08:11

The first 100% Chinese nuclear reactor supports the country's ambitions in this area

HUBERT MARY PUBLISHED ON 08/09/2020

China loaded the fuel for the third generation nuclear reactor at the Fuqing power plant (south-east of the country). With a capacity of 1 megawatts, this is the first installation using 000% national technology. It shouldn't be the last. China thus intends to free itself from Western industrialists and discuss their international market shares with them.

Image
This aerial photo taken on August 31, 2020 shows a panoramic view of the Fuqing Nuclear Project.

The start of a new era for nuclear power in the Middle Kingdom? Friday, September 4, for the first time, China loaded the fuel for a third generation reactor of 100% national design, in its power plant in Fuqing (southeast of the country). The technology, dubbed Hualong One, was developed by the two national nuclear mastodons, CNNC (Chinese National Nuclear Company) and CGNPC (China General Nuclear Power).

The installation, with a capacity of 1 megawatts, should be operational by the end of the year, according to CNNC.

A REACTOR INSPIRED BY FRENCH TECHNOLOGY

If the reactors are inspired by the principle of PWRs (pressurized water reactors), developed by Areva (now Orano), the technology developed by Chinese engineers is completely new, reports the Chinese press. This is an improvement of the CPR-1000 reactors, started up in the 2000s in China, but for which the industrial property rights for the assembly and certain components belonged to Areva.

In 2011, CNNC and CGNPC decided to launch an independent nuclear program at the request of their government and started work on the design of the Hualong One (or HPR-1000) reactor, a hybrid reactor mixing components from the American AP 1000 reactors and French EPR.

SEVEN OTHER PROJECTS IN PROGRESS IN THE NATIONAL TERRITORY

According to the newspaper Les Echos, "two other projects which will use this technology were also approved last week" (Wednesday, September 2) by Beijing. They are in addition to the four others decided in 2019 by the Chinese government. In a shorter time frame, in 2021, CNNC is expected to complete Reactor 6 at the Fuqing power plant, based on the same technology.

CHINA IS DIGGING THE GAP ON NEW GENERATION NUCLEAR ...

China is stepping up on its new generation nuclear program, launched in the 2000s, and widening the gap in this segment with France and especially the United States. In 2018, Beijing started up three AP 1000 reactors (Sanmen 2 and Haiyang 1 and 2), using technology from the American Westinghouse, as well as an EPR plant, in partnership with EDF. In 2019, two new reactors were connected to the national electricity grid, a new AP 1000 (also the first using fuel assemblies made in China) and an EPR (Taishan-2).

In addition, China is still working on the development of versatile modular mini-reactors, called Linglong One.

... AND NOW BETTING ON THE EXPORT OF ITS TECHNOLOGY

In 2015 and then in 2016, Pakistan chose to equip itself with Chinese Hualong One reactors to supply its Karachi power station (units two and three), whose construction was completed in 2019 and 2020. They should enter in service within a year or two.

Another country knocking on the door, the United Kingdom. Since 2017, China has been in ambush to bid for the tender for the construction of two reactors in Bradlwell, Essex, currently dismantled after 40 years of existence. Beijing hopes to receive approval from British authorities by 2022.

A new entrant which is likely to call into question the monopoly of Western industrialists in the sector.


https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/l ... e.N1001469
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by greenenergy2020 » 10/09/20, 21:04

Hi,

for info also:


Helsinki (awp / afp) - The Finnish electrician announced on Wednesday the entry into force of the agreement signed in early March with the French nuclear group Areva, signing the end of the dispute between the two groups in the dispute over the reactor site EPR in Finland.

"The comprehensive settlement agreement, announced on March 11 [...] has entered into force," the Finnish group said in a brief statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Areva will pay 450 million euros to its client TVO.

The construction of the third-generation reactor by the French group and its German partner Siemens in Olkiluoto (southwest Finland) has accumulated ten years of delay and additional costs, which Areva and TVO are mutually attributing.

Areva and TVO had brought their dispute before an arbitration tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. The French group claimed 3,4 billion euros in compensation from the Finnish, and TVO 2,6 billion from Areva.

Best regards .
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by moinsdewatt » 12/09/20, 22:34

US gives first-ever OK for small commercial nuclear reactor

September 10, 2020 Keith Ridler, Associated Press

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US officials have for the first time approved a design for a small commercial nuclear reactor, and a Utah energy cooperative wants to build 12 of them in Idaho.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday approved Portland-based NuScale Power's application for the small modular reactor that Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems plans to build at a US Department of Energy site in eastern Idaho.

The small reactors can produce about 60 megawatts of energy, or enough to power more than 50,000 homes. The proposed project includes 12 small modular reactors. The first would be built in 2029, with the rest in 2030.

NuScale says the reactors have advanced safety features, including self-cooling and automatic shutdown.

“This is a significant milestone not only for NuScale, but also for the entire US nuclear sector and the other advanced nuclear technologies that will follow,” said NuScale Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hopkins in a statement.

Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems already has agreements with the Energy Department to build the reactors at the federal agency's 890-square-mile (2,300-square-kilometer) site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear research facility that would help with the development of the reactors.

The Department of Energy has spent more than $ 400 million since 2014 to hasten the development of the small modular reactors, or SMRs.

“DOE is proud to support the licensing and development of NuScale's Power Module and other SMR technologies that have the potential to bring clean and reliable power to areas never thought possible by nuclear reactors in the US, and soon the world,” said Rita Baranwal, assistant secretary for Nuclear Energy.

The energy cooperative has embarked on a plan called the Carbon Free Power Project that aims to supply carbon-free energy to its nearly 50 members, mostly municipalities, in six Western states. The company plans to buy the reactors from NuScale, then assemble them in Idaho. The company is also looking to bring on other utilities that would use the power generated by the reactors.

Cooperative “members themselves would use a portion of the electricity, but other utilities would become involved and purchase power,” said LaVarr Webb, spokesperson for the cooperative.

He said not all the power that will be produced from the proposed reactors has been allocated, but he expects more interest with the US approval of NuScale's design.

He said the next step is for the cooperative to submit a combined construction and operating license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The process also includes an environmental analysis. Webb said the cooperative will likely have that ready within two years.

The first small modular reactor is scheduled to come online in 2029, with 11 more to follow in 2030.

The modular reactors are light-water reactors, which are the vast majority of reactors now operating. But modular reactors are designed to use less water than traditional reactors and have a passive safety system so they shut down without human action should something go wrong.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of the design means the agency is satisfied such technology will work properly.

The modular reactors are also part of a much larger US plan to replace current reactors, many of them decades old, with more efficient and safer reactors. US officials say nuclear power helps reduce carbon emissions from coal and natural gas, a cause of global warming.

There are currently 95 licensed commercial nuclear reactors operating in the US, generating about 20 percent of the nation's electricity, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Utah Taxpayers Association has come out against Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems building the reactors, contending costs will soar as they have with some traditional reactors that are much larger.

But the cooperative says such a comparison is unfair, and akin to comparing a 1960s gas guzzler automobile with a modern electric vehicle.



https://nsjonline.com/article/2020/09/u ... r-reactor/
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by Paul72 » 13/09/20, 14:33

Chic. We will be able to invest the rivers after the rivers. E in the middle of an eco-district for cogeneration : Cheesy:
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by Bardal » 13/09/20, 20:55

There is no need for an eco-district (quesaco?), Or a micro-power plant, to make cogeneration; the only existing park would be sufficient, in theory, to heat all of France, and to supply its hot water; one wonders what one expects besides, were it not for the infantile anxieties of some ...

Okay, we have already let go of the diesel, the internet, and a few more ...

Me, I do not care, I have no children (and I welcome that), and at the time of the reckoning, I will have bowed out a long time ago ...
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by sicetaitsimple » 13/09/20, 21:09

bardal wrote:..... to make cogeneration; the only existing park would be sufficient, in theory, to heat all of France, and to supply its hot water; we wonder what we expect elsewhere,


You're talking nonsense, there .... Between theory and practice there is a very big difference ....
But if you want to develop the capacity of the existing fleet to heat France in practice "without waiting elsewhere", I'm all ears.
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by Paul72 » 14/09/20, 07:44

bardal wrote:There is no need for an eco-district (quesaco?), Or a micro-power plant, to make cogeneration; the only existing park would be sufficient, in theory, to heat all of France, and to supply its hot water; one wonders what one expects besides, were it not for the infantile anxieties of some ...

Okay, we have already let go of the diesel, the internet, and a few more ...

Me, I do not care, I have no children (and I welcome that), and at the time of the reckoning, I will have bowed out a long time ago ...



Much less practical with large decentralized power stations than with small units closer to inhabited or industrial areas.
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by Bardal » 14/09/20, 13:30

On nuclear cogeneration:

- for 400 TWh of electricity (approximately) produced each year, about 800 TWh of thermal energy is produced today in pure loss, which is partly dissipated in the sea, partly in the atmosphere, partly in rivers. A very small part is recovered to heat greenhouses or aquaculture ponds ...

- France consumes around 600 TWh per year for the thermal needs of buildings (domestic and tertiary) and DHW, less than the thermal energy dissipated by nuclear power plants.

- the simple supply of hot water to large agglomerations (technically very simple when there is an urban heating network) would suffice to reduce to nothing the consumption of fossil fuels and, essentially, that of electricity. In 2014, CEA carried out a study to supply the city of Paris from the Nogent / Seine power plant (110 km away) and resulted in a cost per kWh delivered of around 2 cents. We now know how to transport hot water over long distances without major losses.

- a simple study of the geography of France shows that most of the agglomerations could easily be served by such networks. The difficulty is not so much to recover and transport the heat from the power stations, but to install urban heating networks, which is a heavy project (but not more than natural gas !!!); that said, this problem also arises for geothermal energy ...

@ sicetaitsimple: I try not to tell "anything" and I know that between a theoretical option and the realization, there is a gap not always easy to fill. But I believe that the CEA is not unaware of this difference either, any more than the designers of the Grenoble heating project (in the 90s) were unaware of it; but it is true for all the large-scale projects, which often frighten the low-income earners and the thinkers of the tidal wave; this was the case with the TGV, the motorway program, and closer to home the construction of CERN.

Between doing everything that is theoretically possible right away and doing nothing at all, there is room for a rational approach, economically and technically optimized, and which would allow real progress in the abandonment of carbon energies and real savings in in terms of imports.

To name just a few examples, Paris and its region, Lille and its region, Lyon and its region, Marseille and its region, Toulouse, Bordeaux, to name only the most important are ideal candidates for such projects. On a more modest level, St Laurent des eaux easily heats the agglomerations of Orleans and Blois, Chinon those of Tours and Saumur ... Perhaps it is worth the cost to think about it.
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by Paul72 » 14/09/20, 14:07

I have always said to myself that it was stupid all this waste heat that could heat greenhouses producing citrus fruits, avocados or other plants that are impossible to produce easily in metropolitan France. From an ecological point of view this would however be relevant. We have to believe that the import cost is still far too low ...
With a deep floor heating system, you could even store heat in the basement in summer.
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Re: Nuclear continues in the world




by sicetaitsimple » 14/09/20, 15:09

bardal wrote:@ sicetaitsimple: I try not to tell "anything" and I know that between a theoretical option and the realization, there is a gap not always easy to fill.


Well, it's not bad to agree on that!

A few comments:

- even if the "potential" is 800TWh, to my knowledge we do not heat in "summer", and not much in April or September. . Let us say 5 months of "blank", the theoretically recoverable potential would rather be of the order of 450 to 500TWh, of water at about thirty degrees (excluding cogeneration (withdrawal) where the electric power would drop). 30 °, let's be clear, you don't know how to do anything with it except to feed a greenhouse or a crocodile farm located just next to the power station.

- except starting from a blank sheet, one cannot free oneself from the characteristics of the existing heating network. I must have seen the "Nogent" study one day you are talking about, but no luck the main network of the CPCU from memory is steam at around 240 ° C and around twenty bars. You are not going to modify it to switch to superheated water at 120 ° and a few bars, it's just technically impossible except to change everything. It is being renovated bit by bit while minimizing the inconvenience to automobile traffic. Maybe a guy from CEA in his office can imagine changing everything in one summer ....
I don't know the characteristics of Lille, Lyon, ... but I imagine that there are the same type of constraints.

- and in general we only start from a blank sheet in the context of new districts, because in the existing one people have their means of heating and do not have much to do with a new means of heating passes in the street. In short, it is developing little.

-you say " At a more modest level, St Laurent des eaux easily heats the agglomerations of Orleans and Blois, Chinon those of Tours and Saumur. " . You mean it's already the case? It surprises me a lot.
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