Sustainability-oriented prioritization of nuclear fuel cycle transitions in China:a holistic MCDM framework under uncertainties

A sustainability-oriented assessment of the nuclear energy system can provide informative and convincing decision-making support for nuclear development strategies in China.In our previous study,four authentic nuclear fuel cycle(NFC)transi-tion scenarios were proposed,featuring different development stages and exhibiting distinct environmental,economic,and technical characteristics.However,because of the multiple and often conflicting criteria embedded therein,determining the top-priority NFC alternative for a sustainability orientation remains challenging.To address this issue,this study proposed a novel hybrid multi-criteria decision-making framework comprising fuzzy AHP,PROMETHEE GAIA,and MOORA.Initially,an improved fuzzy AHP weighting model was developed to determine criteria weights under uncertainty and investigate the influence of various weight aggregation and defuzzification approaches.Subsequently,PROMETHEE GAIA was used to address conflicts among the criteria and prioritize alternatives on a visualized k-dimensional GAIA plane.As a result,the alternative for direct recycling PWR spent fuel in fast reactors is considered the most sustainable.Furthermore,a sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the influence of criteria weight variation and validate the screening results.Finally,using MOORA,some significant optimization ideas and valuable insights were provided to support decision-makers in shaping nuclear development strategies.

Effects of Freeze/Thaw Cycles and Gas Purging Method on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

At subzero temperature, the startup capability and performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) deteriorates markedly. The object of this work is to study the degradation mechanism of key components of PEMFC-membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and seek feasible measures to avoid degradation. The effect of freeze/thaw cycles on the structure of MEA is investigated based on porosity and SEM measurement. The performance of a single cell was also tested before and after repetitious freeze/thaw cycles. The experimental results indicated that the performance of a PEMFC decreased along with the total operating time as well as the pore size distribution shifting and micro configuration changing. However, when the redundant water had been removed by gas purging, the performance of the PEMFC stack was almost resumed when it experienced again the same subzero temperature test. These results show that it is necessary to remove the water in PEMFCs to maintain stable performance under subzero temperature and gas purging is proved to be the effective operation.

Influence of driving cycles on exhaust emissions and fuel consumption of gasoline passenger car in Bangkok

The influence of different driving cycles on their exhaust emissions and fuel consumption rate of gasoline passenger car was investigated in Bangkok based on the actual measurements obtained from a test vehicle driving on a standard chassis dynamometer. A newly established Bangkok driving cycle （BDC） and the European driving cycle （EDC） which is presently adopted as the legislative cycle for testing automobiles registered in Thailand were used. The newly developed BDC is constructed using the driving characteristic data obtained from the real on-road driving tests along selected traffic routes. A method for selecting appropriate road routes for real driving tests is also introduced. Variations of keyed driving parameters of BDC with different driving cycles were discussed. The results showed that the HC and CO emission factors of BDC are almost two and four times greater than those of EDC, respectively. Although the difference in the NOx emission factor is small, the value from BDC is still greater than that of EDC by 10%. Under BDC, the test vehicle consumes fuel about 25% more than it does under EDC. All these differences are mainly attributed to the greater proportion of idle periods and higher fluctuations of vehicle speed in the BDC cycle. This result indicated that the exhausted emissions and fuel consumption of vehicles obtained from tests under the legislative modal-type driving cycle （EDC） are significantly different from those actually produced under real traffic conditions especially during peak periods.

Preliminary analysis of fuel cycle performance for a small modular heavy water-moderated thorium molten salt reactor

Heavy water-moderated molten salt reactors(HWMSRs)are novel molten salt reactors that adopt heavy water rather than graphite as the moderator while employing liquid fuel.Owing to the high moderating ratio of the heavy water moderator and the utilization of liquid fuel,HWMSRs can achieve a high neutron economy.In this study,a large-scale small modular HWMSR with a thermal power of 500 MWth was proposed and studied.The criticality of the core was evaluated using an in-house critical search calculation code(CSCC),which was developed based on Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation,version 6.1.The preliminary fuel cycle performances(initial conversion ratio(CR),initialfissile fuel loading mass,and temperature coefficient)were investigated by varying the lattice pitch(P)and the molten salt volume fraction(VF).The results demonstrate that the temperature coefficient can be negative over the range of investigated Ps and VFs for both 233U-Th and LEU-Th fuels.A core with a P of 20 cm and a VF of 20%is recommended for 233U-Th and LEU-Th fuels to achieve a high performance of initial CR and fuel loading.Regarding TRU-Th fuel,a core with a smaller P(~5 cm)and larger VF(~24%)is recommended to obtain a negative temperature coefficient.

A discrete-event model to simulate the effect of truck bunching due to payload variance on cycle time, hauled mine materials and fuel consumption

Data collected from truck payload management systems at various surface mines shows that the payload variance is significant and must be considered in analysing the mine productivity,energy consumption,greenhouse gas emissions and associated cost.Payload variance causes significant differences in gross vehicle weights.Heavily loaded trucks travel slower up ramps than lightly loaded trucks.Faster trucks are slowed by the presence of slower trucks,resulting in‘bunching’,production losses and increasing fuel consumptions.This paper simulates the truck bunching phenomena in large surface mines to improve truck and shovel systems’efficiency and minimise fuel consumption.The study concentrated on completing a practical simulation model based on a discrete event method which is most commonly used in this field of research in other industries.The simulation model has been validated by a dataset collected from a large surface mine in Arizona state,USA.The results have shown that there is a good agreement between the actual and estimated values of investigated parameters.

Analysis of Medical Waste Incinerator Performance Based on Fuel Consumption and Cycle Times

A detailed assessment of an incinerator based on fuel consumption and cycle time data is presented in this paper. The study was conducted at Temeke district hospital for 22 months consecutively covering 654 days of daily data collection on fuel consumption and cycle times. The composition for the medical waste incinerated varied between 15% and 35% for sharps waste and between 65% and 85% for other waste, with mean values of 25% and 75%, respectively. The results revealed poor performance of the incinerator due to higher fuel consumption (above 30 L/cycle). The incineration cycle times were observed to range between 2 and 4 hours, all of which were too high for the loading rates observed (55 - 214 kg). A strong dependency of diesel oil consumption on cycle time was observed due to lack of temperature control leading to continuous fuel flow into the burners. The incineration capacity was very low compared to other incinerators in terms of tons per year. This paper gives an insight on the factors affecting incinerator performance assessed based on diesel oil consumption and cycle times. It can be generalized that the incinerator performance was poor due to several factors ranging from poor incinerator design, operator skills, waste management practices, waste storage practices, etc. The hospital was advised to install a new incinerator with short incineration cycle time (30 - 40 minutes) and lower fuel consumption (10 L/cycle) at a loading rate of 200 kg/cycle.

Transition toward thorium fuel cycle in a molten salt reactor by using plutonium

The molten salt reactor(MSR), as one of the Generation Ⅳ advanced nuclear systems, has attracted a worldwide interest due to its excellent performances in safety, economics, sustainability, and proliferation resistance. The aim of this work is to provide and evaluate possible solutions to fissile 233 U production and further the fuel transition to thorium fuel cycle in a thermal MSR by using plutonium partitioned from light water reactors spent fuel. By using an in-house developed tool, a breeding and burning(B&B) scenario is first introduced and analyzed from the aspects of the evolution of main nuclides, net 233 U production, spectrum shift, and temperature feedback coefficient. It can be concluded that such a Th/Pu to Th/^(233)U transition can be accomplished by employing a relatively fast fuel reprocessing with a cycle time less than 60 days. At the equilibrium state, the reactor can achieve a conversion ratio of about 0.996 for the 60-day reprocessing period(RP) case and about 1.047 for the 10-day RP case.The results also show that it is difficult to accomplish such a fuel transition with limited reprocessing(RP is 180 days),and the reactor operates as a converter and burns the plutonium with the help of thorium. Meanwhile, a prebreeding and burning(PB&B) scenario is also analyzed briefly with respect to the net 233 U production and evolution of main nuclides. One can find that it is more efficient to produce 233 U under this scenario, resulting in a double time varying from about 1.96 years for the 10-day RP case to about 6.15 years for the 180-day RP case.

Thermo economic evaluation of oxy fuel combustion cycle in Kazeroon power plant considering enhanced oil recovery revenues

Oxy fuel combustion and conventional cycle(currently working cycle) in Kazeroon plant are modeled using commercial thermodynamic modeling software. Economic evaluation of the two models regarding the resources of transport and injection of carbon dioxide into oil fields at Gachsaran for enhanced oil recovery in the various oil price indices is conducted and indices net present value(NPV) and internal rate of return on investment(IRR) are calculated. The results of the two models reveal that gross efficiency of the oxy fuel cycle is more than reference cycle(62% compared to 49.03%), but the net efficiency is less(41.85% compared to 47.92%) because of the high-energy consumption of the components, particularly air separation unit(ASU) in the oxy fuel cycle. In this model, pure carbon dioxide with pressure of 20×105 Pa and purity of 96.84% was captured. NOX emissions also decrease by 4289.7 tons per year due to separation of nitrogen in ASU. In this model, none of the components of oxy fuel cycle is a major engineering challenge. With increasing oil price, economic justification of oxy fuel combustion model increases. With the price of oil at $ 80 per barrel in mind and $ 31 per ton fines for emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, IRR is the same for both models.

Uncertainty in life cycle economical analysis of cassava-based ethanol fuel

Biomass ethanol fuel is not only renewable but also environmental-friendly. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is developing the cassava-based ethanol fuel. Economical performance of the project is the key issue. The traditional life cycle economical analysis is just a static calculation process. Uncertainty is the character of cassava yield, cost of cassava plant, cassava price, tax rate and gasoline price, and the economical performance of the project is determined by these aspects. This study proposes an economical model of cassava-based ethanol fuel. The method of Monte Carol is used to simulate the economical performance. This method conquers the shortage of the traditional way. The results show that cassava-based ethanol fuel can get survived when the tax is exempted. Finally, the study also evaluates the potential of the economical performance.

Decision-making of biomass ethanol fuel policy based on life cycle 3E assessment

To evaluate the environmental, economic, energy performance of biomass ethanol fuel in China and to support the decision-making of biomass ethanol energy policy, an assessment method of life cycle 3E (economy, environment, energy) was applied to the three biomass ethanol fuel cycle alternatives, which includes cassava-based, corn-based and wheat-based ethanol fuel. The assessments provide a comparison of the economical performance, energy efficiency and environmental impacts of the three alternatives. And the development potential of the three alternatives in China was examined. The results are very useful for the Chinese government to make decisions on the biomass ethanol energy policy, and some advises for the decision-making of Chinese government were given.

Study of visualized simulation and analysis of nuclear fuel cycle system based on multilevel flow model

Complex energy and environment system, especially nuclear fuel cycle system recently raised socialconcerns about the issues of economic competitiveness, environmental effect and nuclear proliferation. Only underthe condition that those conflicting issues are gotten a consensus between stakeholders with different knowledgebackground, can nuclear power industry be continuingly developed. In this paper, a new analysis platform has beendeveloped to help stakeholders to recognize and analyze various socio-technical issues in the nuclear fuel cycle systembased on the functional modeling method named Multilevel Flow Models (MFM) according to the cognition theoryof human being. Its character is that MFM models define a set of mass, energy and information flow structures onmultiple levels of abstraction to describe the functional structure of a process system and its graphical symbol representationand the means-end and part-whole hierarchical flow structure to make the represented process easy to beunderstood. Based upon this methodology, a micro-process and a macro-process of nuclear fuel cycle system wereselected to be simulated and some analysis processes such as economics analysis, environmental analysis and energybalance analysis related to those flows were also integrated to help stakeholders to understand the process of decision-making with the introduction of some new functions for the improved Multilevel Flow Models Studio, and finallythe simple simulation such as spent fuel management process simulation and money flow of nuclear fuel cycleand its levelised cost analysis will be represented as feasible examples.

Effects of Freeze/Thaw Cycles and Gas Purging Method on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

At subzero temperature, the startup capability and performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell PEMFC deteriorates markedly. The object of this work is to study the degradation mechanism of key compo- nents of PEMFC—membrane-electrode assembly MEA and seek feasible measures to avoid degradation. The ef- fect of freezethaw cycles on the structure of MEA is investigated based on porosity and SEM measurement. The performance of a single cell was also tested before and after repetitious freezethaw cycles. The experimental results indicated that the performance of a PEMFC decreased along with the total operating time as well as the pore size distribution shifting and micro configuration changing. However, when the redundant water had been removed by gas purging, the performance of the PEMFC stack was almost resumed when it experienced again the same subzero temperature test. These results show that it is necessary to remove the water in PEMFCs to maintain stable per- formance under subzero temperature and gas purging is proved to be the effective operation.

Stage Predictions of Landslide and Subsidence from an Once-Through Cycle

In this paper both processes of landslide and subsidence are considered to be limited systems. Each of these systems in nature might be regarded as an organism. Generally their lifespan must develop with common ecological characteristics, including several evolutional stages, such as initiation, growth, maturation, decline and death. Among these stages, maturation is emphasized so as to find the occurring or thriving date of both systems. An once-through cycle of both landslide and subsidence is established and is accurately predicted by a developed, mathematic model of the Poisson cycle. The Weibull distribution is cited for a landslide example. Both fundamentals are discussed. Stage predictions of landslide and subsidence are performed for several examples. Back analysis of landslides that have already happened are studied with the same model. And when compared with results from the biological mathematic model and with practical results, it is found that they correspond. Stage prediction of subsidences is also researched by the principle of the Poisson cycle.

Korean potential approach to the multi-lateralization of the nuclear fuel cycle

To prevent the worldwide dissemination of nuclear sensitive technologies and strengthen the safeguards of the nuclear facilities at the same time, the international society has begun to discuss the “multilateral nuclear fuel cycle approach (MNA)”. This kind of discussion will be more vigorous due to the recent nuclear activeties in Iran and North Korean and the Fukushima nuclear power plants accidents. If the MNA would be implemented someday, not even in the immediate future, Korea could be subject to a serious situation since it imports 100% of raw material for nuclear fuel. Hence, this paper reviews the 12 previous MNA proposals and discusses a potential Korean approach to MNA that Korea is able to take.

Exploitation of Waste Heat from a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell via an Alkali Metal Thermoelectric Converter and Electrochemical Cycles

In order to employ the waste heat effectively,a novel three-stage integrated system based upon a solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC),an alkali metal thermoelectric converter(AMTEC)and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycles(TRECs)is put forward.Considering the main electrochemically and thermodynamically irreversible losses,the power output and the efficiency of the subsystems and the integrated system are compared,and optimally operating regions for the current density,the power output,and the efficiency of the integrated system are explored.Calculations demonstrate that the maximum power density of the considered system is up to 7466 W/m2,which allows 18%and 74%higher than that of the conventional SOFC-AMTEC device and the stand-alone fuel cell model,respectively.It is proved that the considered system is an efficient approach to boost energy efficiency.Moreover,the influence of several significant parameters on the comprehensive performance of the integrated system is expounded in detail,including the electrolyte thickness of the SOFC,the leakage resistance of the SOFC,and the area ratio between the SOFC electrode and the AMTEC subsystem.

Performance Evaluation of a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell-Graphene Thermionic Converter-Thermally Regenerative Electrochemical Cycles Hybrid System

A combined system model is proposed including a molten carbonate fuel cell(MCFC),a graphene thermionic converter(GTIC)and thermally regenerative electrochemical cycles(TRECs).The expressions for power output,energy efficiency of the subsystems and the couple system are formulated by considering several irreversible losses.Energy conservation equations between the subsystems are achieved leaned on the first law of thermodynamics.The optimum operating ranges for the combined system are determined compared with the MCFC system.Results reveal that the peak power output density(POD)and the corresponding energy efficiency are 28.22%and 10.76%higher than that of the single MCFC system,respectively.The effects of five designing parameters on the power density and energy efficiency of the MCFC/GTIC/TRECs model are also investigated and discussed.

Utilization of spent PWR fuel-advanced nuclear fuel cycle of PWR/CANDU synergism

High neutron economy, on line refueling and channel design result in the unsurpassed fuel cycle flexibility and variety for CANDU reactors. According to the Chinese national conditions that China has both PWR and CANDU reactors and the closed cycle policy of reprocessing the spent PWR fuel is adopted, one of the advanced nuclear fuel cycles of PWR/CANDU synergism using the reprocessed uranium of spent PWR fuel in CANDU reactor is proposed, which will save the uranium resource (～22.5%), increase the energy output (～41%), decrease the quantity of spent fuels to be disposed (～2/3) and lower the cost of nuclear power. Because of the inherent flexibility of nuclear fuel cycle in CANDU reactor, and the low radiation level of recycled uranium(RU), which is acceptable for CANDU reactor fuel fabrication, the transition from the natural uranium to the RU can be completed without major modification of the reactor core structure and operation mode. It can be implemented in Qinshan Phase Ⅲ CANDU reactors with little or no requirement of big investment in new design. It can be expected that the reuse of recycled uranium of spent PWR fuel in CANDU reactor is a feasible and desirable strategy in China.

Dual Pressure versus Hybrid Recuperation in an Integrated Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cycle--Steam Cycle

A SOFC （solid oxide fuel cell） cycle running on natural gas was integrated with a ST （steam turbine） cycle. The fuel is desulfurized and pre-reformed before entering the SOFC. A burner was used to combust the remaining fuel after the SOFC stacks. The off-gases from the burner were used to produce steam in a HRSG （heat recovery steam generator）. The bottoming steam cycle was modeled with two configurations： （1） a simple single pressure level and （2） a dual pressure level with both a reheat and a pre-heater. The SOFC stacks in the present SOFC-ST hybrid cycles were not pressurized. The dual pressure configuration steam cycle combined with SOFC cycle （SOFC-ST） was new and has not been studied previously. In each of the configuration, a hybrid recuperator was used to recovery the remaining energy of the off-gases after the HRSG. Thus, four different plants system setups were compared to each other to reveal the most superior concept with respect to plant efficiency and power. It was found that in order to increase the plant efficiency considerably, it was enough to use a single pressure with a hybrid recuperator instead of a dual pressure Rankine cycle.