Market Engineering 代写 Introduction Of Energy

Market Engineering 代写 Introduction Of Energy

4.0 Nuclear Power Generation

4.1 Nuclear Industry Trends

The nuclear power sector has recently seen resurgence, mainly lead by a rising demand from China, and the need to build new reactors to replace those at the end of their service life. Furthermore, President Obama recently announced, in the 2011 budget request, an $8 billion loan guarantee for the construction of the United States’ new nuclear plants, the first plant construction project in 30 years. The generational leaps, both in the past and the expected future, can be visualized in the following chart, sourced from the UN International Nuclear Commission.

Figure 6. Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems.

Note that, the forces driving the present increase in the nuclear market trend are similar to those of the past. This is to say, a mix of social and economic factors mainly lead by government and social perceptions of nuclear power.

With respect to governmental support for nuclear power, it is important to note the need for governments to maintain a geopolitical-independent energy source to feed the country’s power requirements. The funding programs in the past have either been initiated to take advantage of technological development opportunities, or to respond to crises: Exploration of the possibility of ‘cheap’ fuel (1950’s), to permit the ‘feeding’ requirement of nuclear arsenals (1960’s), to respond to fuel price crisis, to respond to public perception (1980’s), and to keep carbon emissions targets.

In addition to the above macro events, the financial requirements of nuclear power generation must be considered, in other words, the upfront capital investment required to initiate the building of a nuclear power facility. The policies to fund nuclear power generation have varied depending on geographical location and economical context in which they were undertaken. However, all nuclear power reactors have been financed or subsidized by government funding. For example, the United States nuclear power contribution to its national grid was 19.3% in 2005; noting that no new reactors have been approved for construction by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since 1978. Therefore, there is increasing demand for the development of commercial reactors, with a view to be in service in the next twenty years.

4.2 Customer

Currently, there are 436 nuclear reactors safely generating electricity around the world, accounting for about 15% of global electricity output. The figure below shows the graphical distribution of nuclear reactors worldwide. The following table gives further information about nuclear power and number of reactors in each country.

Figure 7. Nuclear Reactors Worldwide.

The status of nuclear power globally:

     Operating reactors, building new reactors

     Operating reactors, planning new build

     No reactors, building new reactors

     No reactors, planning new build

     Operating reactors, stable

     Operating reactors, considering phase-out

     Civil nuclear power is illegal

     No reactors

Table 1. Distribution of World Nuclear Capacity.

Notes

1. a One of the conditions of Lithuania’s entry into the European Union was that the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Lithuania’s only nuclear plant, be closed on safety grounds. As a result, Lithuania has proposed a replacement to be built on the same site.[15]

2. b North Korea has four incomplete reactors, two frozen in 1994 under the U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework, and two under construction by KEDO until suspended in 2003. An experimental 5 MWe reactor is operating at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center.

3. c The nearly completed Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant was abandoned in the early 1990s. There is wide political consensus that Poland needs at least 2 nuclear power plants in the north of Poland but no binding decisions have been made so far.

4. d Energy percentage produced.

5. e Krško Nuclear Power Plant, although it is located in Slovenia, 50% is owned by Slovenia and 50% Croatia, so half of electricity goes in Croatia

Reactor suppliers in North America, Japan, Europe, Russia and elsewhere have a dozen new nuclear reactor designs at advanced stages of planning, while others are at a research and development stage.

At the commercial level, by the end of 2006 three major Western-Japanese alliances had formed to dominate much of the world reactor supply market:

Areva with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in a major project and subsequently in fuel fabrication,

General Electric with Hitachi as a close relationship: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH)

Westinghouse had become a 77% owned subsidiary of Toshiba (with Shaw group 20%).

Subsequently there have been a number of other international collaborative arrangements initiated among reactor vendors and designers, but it remains to be seen which will be most significant. The table below enlists the customers (Utility Generators) for these suppliers.

Table 2. List of Nuclear Operators in the World.