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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Christine Mansilla
Nuclear Technology | Volume 162 | Number 3 | June 2008 | Pages 323-332
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3959
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Generation IV nuclear reactors will not be implemented unless they enable lower production costs than with the current systems. In such a context, considering only technical issues such as the performances of the plant is not entirely satisfactory since maximizing the system efficiency does not guarantee a minimum cost. Consequently, a technoeconomic optimization method was developed and then applied to the power conversion system of a very high temperature reactor.Technoeconomic optimization consists in minimizing an objective function that depends on technical and economic variables. The advantage of the technoeconomic optimization compared to classical optimizations based on the efficiency is that it can take into account both investment costs and operating costs.A technoeconomic model was implemented in a specific optimization software named Vizir, which is based on genetic algorithms. The calculation of the thermodynamic cycle is performed by a software named Tugaz.The results are the values of the decision variables that lead to a minimum cost, according to the model. The total production cost is evaluated. The consequences of different modifications of the model are discussed.