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NRC proposed rule for licensing reactors authorized by DOE, DOD
Nuclear reactor designs approved by the Department of Energy or Department of Defense could get streamlined pathways through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s commercial licensing process should applicants wish to push the technology into the civilian sector.
A proposed rule introduced April 2 by the NRC would “improve NRC licensing review efficiency, where applicable, by explicitly establishing by regulation an additional means for reactor applicants to demonstrate the safety functions of their reactor designs, and thus, would contribute to the safe and secure use and deployment of civilian nuclear energy technologies.”
Paul J. Meier, Gerald L. Kulcinski
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 507-512
Fusion Economic Studies | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963286
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study summarizes a recent life-cycle net energy analysis (NEA) on a modern natural gas turbine power plant for comparison against DT fusion and conventional technologies (coal, fission, and wind). The NEA results are used as the basis for developing a life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rate. The GHG emission rate for DT fusion is 9 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted per gigawatt electric hour produced (T/GWeh). This rate compares favorably against gas turbine (464 T/GWeh) and conventional coal (974 T/GWeh), and competitively against fission (15 T/GWeh) and wind (15 T/GWeh). The implications of this research for U.S. GHG mitigation are discussed. In evaluated scenarios, the installed nuclear and renewable capacity in the U.S. must quadruple by 2050 to maintain a Kyoto based emission target, with fusion and/or other renewable sources comprising 43-59% of U.S. capacity.
