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NN Asks: What hurdles stand in the way of nuclear power’s global expansion?
Jake Jurewicz
Nuclear technology is mature. It provides firm power at scale with minimal externalities and has done so for decades. The core problem isn’t about the technology—it is how the plants are built. Nuclear construction has a well-documented history of cost and schedule overruns. Previous nuclear plants often spent more than twice what was first budgeted, making nuclear among the power technologies with the largest average cost overruns worldwide.
Recent projects illustrate how severe the problem can be. In South Carolina, the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion saw projected costs rise from roughly $10 billion to more than $25 billion before the project was abandoned in 2017, by which time more than $9 billion had already been spent and customers were stuck paying for a site they have yet to benefit from.
Takashi Kodama, Hiroshi Kinuhata, Mikio Kumagai, Kazunori Suzuki, Shin-Itiro Hayashi, Shingo Matsuoka
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 6 | June 2024 | Pages 958-984
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2273550
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Using the amount, composition, and decay power density of high-level liquid waste in a storage tank, the temperature change of the waste up to 600°C and the corresponding vapor and gas release rates of H2O, HNO3, NO2, NO, and O2 as a function of time after the loss of cooling function were obtained by the following method. The heat balance equations in and around the tank were derived, and the solution of the waste temperature change was numerically obtained using the vaporization rates of H2O and HNO3 and the generation rate of NOx, which were both obtained from the experiments using the simulated liquid waste. Utilizing the temperature versus time curve obtained from the equation, the release rates of the components described above were obtained as a function of time. This information on the progress of the accident can be used to study the Leak Path Factor of radioactive materials, especially of volatilized Ru, and further, it becomes basic information when considering accident management and suppressing the impact of a disaster.
