Nuclear Electric Power E-Book

J. Brian Knowles

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 281

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Assesses the engineering of renewable sources for commercial power generation and discusses the safety, operation, and control aspects of nuclear electric power From an expert who advised the European Commission and UK government in the aftermath of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl comes a book that contains experienced engineering assessments of the options for replacing the existing, aged, fossil-fired power stations with renewable, gas-fired, or nuclear plants. From geothermal, solar, and wind to tidal and hydro generation, Nuclear Electric Power: Safety, Operation, and Control Aspects assesses the engineering of renewable sources for commercial power generation and discusses the important aspects of the design, operation, and safety of nuclear stations. Nuclear Electric Power offers: * Novel, practical engineering assessments for geothermal, hydro, solar, tidal, and wind generation in terms of the available data on cost, safety, environmental damage, capacity factor reliability, and grid compatibility, with some nuclear comparisons * Eigenvalues and real frequency response functions to assess the stabilities of reactor power, two-phase channel flow, and a Grid network * A non-linear control strategy with simulation results for a Design Base Accident scenario * Original analyses with experimental validation of molten fuel coolant interactions and aircraft impacts on rigid structures * Analysis of the circumstances that led to the Fukushima disaster Nuclear Electric Power is an important book for all international nuclear power agencies and those who work within the field.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Glossary

Principal Nomenclature

Chapter 1: Energy Sources, Grid Compatibility, Economics, and the Environment

1.1 Background

1.2 Geothermal Energy

1.3 Hydroelectricity

1.4 Solar Energy

1.5 Tidal Energy

1.6 Wind Energy

1.7 Fossil-Fired Power Generation

1.8 Nuclear Generation and Reactor Choice

1.9 A Prologue

Chapter 2: Adequacy of Linear Models and Nuclear Reactor Dynamics

2.1 Linear Models, Stability, and Nyquist Theorems

2.2 Mathematical Descriptions of a Neutron Population

2.3 A Point Model of Reactor Kinetics

2.4 Temperature and Other Operational Feedback Effects

2.5 Reactor Control, Its Stable Period, and Re-Equilibrium

Chapter 3: Some Power Station and Grid Control Problems

3.1 Steam Drum Water-Level Control

3.2 Flow Stability in Parallel Boiling Channels

3.3 Grid Power Systems and Frequency Control

3.4 Grid Disconnection for a Nuclear Station with Functioning “Scram”

Chapter 4: Some Aspects of Nuclear Accidents and Their Mitigation

4.1 Reactor Accident Classification by Probabilities

4.2 Hazards from an Atmospheric Release of Fission Products

4.3 Mathematical Risk, Event Trees, and Human Attitudes

4.4 The Farmer-Beattie Siting Criterion

4.5 Examples of Potential Severe Accidents in Fast Reactors and PWRs with Their Consequences

Chapter 5: Molten Fuel Coolant Interactions: Analyses and Experiments

5.1 A History and a Mixing Analysis

5.2 Coarse Mixtures and Contact Modes in Severe Nuclear Accidents

5.3 Some Physics of a Vapor Film and Its Interface

5.4 Heat Transfer from Contiguous Melt

5.5 Mass Transfer at a Liquid–Vapor Interface and the Condensation Coefficient

5.6 Kinetics, Heat Diffusion, a Triggering Simulation, and Reactor Safety

5.7 Melt Fragmentation, Heat Transfer, Debris Sizes, and Mfci Yield

5.8 Features of the Bubex Code and an Mftf Simulation

Chapter 6: Primary Containment Integrity and Impact Studies

6.1 Primary Containment Integrity

6.2 The Pi-Theorem, Scale Models, and Replicas

6.3 Experimental Impact Facilities

6.4 Computational Techniques and an Aircraft Impact

Chapter 7: Natural Circulation, Passive Safety Systems, and Debris-Bed Cooling

7.1 Natural Convection in Nuclear Plants

7.2 Passive Safety Systems for Water Reactors

7.3 Core Debris-Bed Cooling in Water Reactors

7.4 An Epilogue

References

Index

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Photography: © sleepyfellow/Alamy

Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Knowles, J. B. (James Brian), 1936-

Nuclear electric power : safety, operation and control aspects/J.B. Knowles.

pages cm

“Published simultaneously in Canada”–Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-55170-7 (cloth)

1. Nuclear power plants. 2. Nuclear reactors–Safety measures. 3. Nuclear reactors–Control. 4. Nuclear energy. 5. Electric power systems. I. Title.

TK1078.K59 2013

621.48'3–dc23

2013000147

To Lesley Martin

A good neighbor to everyone and our dear friend.

Preface

If the industries and lifestyles of economically developed nations are to be preserved, then their aging, high-capacity power stations will soon need replacing. Those industrialized nations with intentions to lower their carbon emissions are proposing nuclear and renewable energy sources to fill the gap. As well as UK nuclear plant proposals, China plans an impressive 40% new-build capacity, with India, Brazil, and South Korea also having construction policies. Even with centuries of coal and shale-gas reserves, the United States has recently granted a construction license for a pressurized water reactor (PWR) near Augusta, Georgia. Nuclear power is again on the global agenda.

Initially renewable sources, especially wind, were greeted with enthusiastic public support because of their perceived potential to decelerate global climate change. Now however, the media and an often vociferous public are challenging the green credentials of all renewables as well as their ability to provide reliable electricity supplies. Experienced engineering assessments are first given herein for the commercial use of geothermal, hydro, solar, tidal and wind power sources in terms of costs per installed MW, capacity factors, hectares per installed MW and their other environmental impacts. These factors, and a frequent lack of compatibility with national power demands, militate against these power sources making reliable major contributions in some well-developed economies. Though recent global discoveries of significant shale and conventional gas deposits suggest prolonging the UK investment in reliable and high thermal efficiency combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants, ratified emission targets would be contravened and there are also political uncertainties. Accordingly, a nuclear component is argued as necessary in the UK Grid system. Reactor physics, reliability and civil engineering costs reveal that water reactors are the most cost-effective. By virtue of higher linear fuel ratings and the emergency cooling option provided by separate steam generators, PWRs are globally more widely favored.

Power station and grid operations require the control of a number of system variables, but this cannot be engineered directly from their full nonlinear dynamics. A linearization technique is briefly described and then applied to successfully establish the stability of reactor power, steam drum-water level, flow in boiling reactor channels and of a Grid network as a whole. The reduction of these multivariable problems to single input-single output (SISO) analyses illustrates the importance of specific engineering insight, which is further confirmed by the subsequently presented nonlinear control strategy for a station blackout accident.

Public apprehensions over nuclear power arise from a perceived concomitant production of weapons material, the long-term storage of waste and its operational safety. Reactor physics and economics are shown herein to completely separate the activities of nuclear power and weapons. Because fission products from a natural fission reactor some 1800 million years ago are still incarcerated in local igneous rock strata, the additional barriers now proposed appear more than sufficient for safe and secure long-term storage. Spokespersons for various non-nuclear organizations frequently seek to reassure us with “Lessons have been learned”: yet the same misadventures still reoccur. Readers find here that the global nuclear industry has indeed learned and reacted constructively to the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl incidents with the provision of safety enhancements and operational legislation. With regard to legislation, the number of cancers induced by highly unlikely releases of fission products over a nuclear plant's lifetime must be demonstrably less than the natural incidence by orders of magnitude. Also the most exposed person must not be exposed to an unreasonable radiological hazard. Furthermore, a prerequisite for operation is a hierarchical management structure based on professional expertise, plant experience and mandatory simulator training. Finally, a well-conceived local evacuation plan must pre-exist and the aggregate probability of all fuel-melting incidents must be typically less than 1 in 10 million operating years.

Faulty plant siting is argued as the reason for fuel melting at Fukushima and not the nuclear technology itself. If these reactors like others had been built on the sheltered West Coast, their emergency power supplies would not have been swamped by the tsunami and safe neutronic shut-downs after the Richter-scale 9 quake would have been sustained.

To quantify the expectation of thyroid cancers from fission product releases, international research following TMI-2 switched from intact plant performance to the phenomenology and consequences of fuel melting (i.e., Severe Accidents) after the unlikely failure of the multiple emergency core cooling systems. This book examines in detail the physics, likelihood and plant consequences of thermally driven explosive interactions between molten core debris and reactor coolant (MFCIs). Because such events or disintegrating plant items, or an aircraft crash are potential threats to a reactor vessel and its containment building, the described ”replica scale” experiments and finite element calculations were undertaken at Winfrith. Finally, the operation and simulation of containment sprays in preventing an over-pressurization are outlined in relation to the TOSQAN experiments.

This book has been written with two objectives in mind. The first is to show that the safety of nuclear power plants has been thoroughly researched, so that the computed numbers of induced cancers from plant operations are indeed orders of magnitude less than the natural statistical incidence, and still far less than deaths from road traffic accidents or tobacco smoking. With secure waste storage also assured, voiced opposition to nuclear power on health grounds appears irrational. After 1993 the manpower in the UK nuclear industry contracted markedly leaving a younger minority to focus on decommissioning and waste classification. The presented information with other material was then placed in the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) archives so it is now difficult to access. Accordingly this compilation under one cover is the second objective. Its value as part of a comprehensive series of texts remains as strong as when originally conceived by the UKAEA. Specifically, an appreciation helps foster a productive interface between diversely educated new entrants and their experienced in situ industrial colleagues.

Though the author contributed to the original research work herein, it was only as a member of various international teams. This friendly collaboration with UKAEA, French, German and Russian colleagues greatly enriched his life with humor and scientific understanding. Gratitude is also extended to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority of the United Kingdom for their permission to reproduce, within this book alone, copyrighted UKAEA research material. In addition thanks are due to Alan Neilson, Paula Miller, and Professor Derek Wilson, who have particularly helped to “hatch” this book. Finally, please note that the opinions expressed are the author's own which might not concur with those of the now-disbanded UKAEA or its successors in title.

Brian Knowles

River House’, Caters Place, Dorchester

Glossary

AECAtomic Energy Commission (US)AEEWAtomic Energy Establishment WinfrithAEREAtomic Energy Research Establishment (Harwell)AGRAdvanced Gas Cooled ReactorALARPAs Low as Reasonably PracticableANLArgonne National Laboratory (US)ASMEAmerican Society of Mechanical EngineersAWREAtomic Weapons Research Establishment (Aldermaston)BNESBritish Nuclear Energy SocietyBRLBallistics Research Laboratory (US)BWRBoiling Water ReactorCEGBCentral Electricity Generating Board (now disbanded)CENCentre d'Etude Nucléaires (Grenoble)CFR (EFR)Proposed Commercial (European) Fast ReactorCoriumA mixture of fuel, clad and steelwork formed after core-melting in a Severe AccidentDBADesign Base Accident(s)ECEuropean CommissionECCSEmergency Core-Cooling SystemsEWEFEach Way-Each Face (for steel reinforcement of concrete)HCDAHypothetical Core Disruptive Accident ( Severe Accident)HMSOHer Majesty's Stationary Office (London)IAEAInternational Atomic Energy AgencyIEEInstitute of Electrical Engineers (now IET)IEEEInstitute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (US)JRC(European) Joint Research Centre (Ispra)KfAKernforschungsanlage (Jülich)KfKKernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (now Institut fűr Neutronenphysik)LMFBRLiquid Metal Fast Breeder ReactorL(S)LOCALarge (Small) Loss of Coolant AccidentMCRMaximum Continuous Rating or Installed Capacity (MW or GW)MFCIMolten Fuel Coolant InteractionMFTFMolten Fuel Test Facility (at AEEW)MIMOMulti Input-Multi Output (dynamic system)NNCNational Nuclear Corporation (UK)NRDCNational Research Defense Council (US)NUREGNuclear Regulatory Commission (US)OECDOrganization for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentORNLOak Ridge National Laboratory (US)PFRPrototype Fast Reactor (UK)PWRPressurized Water ReactorSISOSingle Input-Single Output (dynamic system)SGHWRSteam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (at AEEW)SNUPPSStandard Nuclear Unit Power Plant System (Westinghouse US)STPStandard Temperature and PressureTCVTurbine Control Valve (steam)UMISTUniversity of Manchester Institute of Science and TechnologyUKAEAUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

Chapter 1

Energy Sources, Grid Compatibility, Economics, and the Environment

1.1 Background

If the industries and accustomed lifestyles of the economically well-developed nations are to be preserved, their aging high-capacity (100 MW) electric power plants will soon require replacement with reliable units having lower carbon emissions and environmental impacts. Legally binding national targets [1] on carbon emissions were set out by the European Union in 2008 to mitigate their now unequivocal effect on global climate change. In 2009, the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change [1] announced ambitious plans for a 34% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. The principal renewable energy sources of Geothermal, Hydro-, Solar, Tidal and Wind are now being investigated worldwide with regard to their contribution towards a “greener planet.” Their economics and those for conventional electricity generation are usually compared in terms of a Levelized Cost which is the sum of those for capital investment, operation, maintenance and decommissioning using Net Present-day Values. Because some proposed systems are less well-developed for commercial application (i.e., riskier) than others, or are long term in the sense of capitally intensive before any income accrues, the now necessary investment of private equity demands a matching cash return [52]. Also in this respect the electric power output from any generator has a degree of intermittency measured by