Comparison of Small Modular Reactor and Large Nuclear Reactor Fuel Cost

Small modular reactors (SMRs) offer simple, standardized, and safe modular designs for new nuclear reactor construction. They are factory built, requiring smaller initial capital investment and facilitating shorter construction times. SMRs also promise competitive economy when compared with the current reactor fleet. Construction cost of a majority of the projects, which are mostly in their design stages, is not publicly available, but variable costs can be determined from fuel enrichment, average burn-up, and plant thermal efficiency, which are public parameters for many near-term SMR projects. The fuel cost of electricity generation for selected SMRs and large reactors is simulated, including calculation of optimal tails assay in the uranium enrichment process. The results are compared between one another and with current generation large reactor designs providing a rough comparison of the long-term economics of a new nuclear reactor project. SMRs are predicted to have higher fuel costs than large reactors. Particularly, integral pressurized water reactors (iPWRs) are shown to have from 15% to 70% higher fuel costs than large light water reactors using 2014 nuclear fuels market data. Fuel cost sensitivities to reactor design parameters are presented.

Linking gold prices,fossil fuel costs and energy consumption to assess progress towards sustainable development goals in newly industrialized countries

The continuous rise in global environmental challenges has led to urgency toward establishing a secure framework to achieve sustainable development goals.This study establishes a novel theoretical framework to analyze the role of energy prices,energy consumption,gold prices and economic growth on environmental degradation in newly industrialized economies.To realize sustainable development goals and foster environmental defence,this study utilizes CS-ARDL as the main econometric approach to investigate the asymmetric association between environmental degradation and relevant factors.We also use AMG,CS-DL,Driscoll-Kray and FGLS to enhance the robustness of our findings.Our econometric approach reveals that energy resource prices and renewable energy consumption reduce environmental degradation,while gold prices and fossil energy consumption elevate environmental pollutants.We also confirm the existence of the EKC hypothesis.The findings of our extensive analysis paved the way for a welldesigned environmental policy for NIC economies should focus on renewable energy consumption,green investments,and structural changes.

Realization and Analysis of Good Fuel Economy and Kinetic Performance of a Low-cost Hybrid Electric Vehicle

By using high-power and high-efficiency propulsion systems,current hybrid electric vehicles（HEVs） in market can achieve excellent fuel economy and kinetic performance.However,it is the cost of current HEVs that hinders HEVs coming into widespread use.A novel hybrid electric propulsion system is designed to balance HEV cost and performance for developing markets.A battery/supercapacitor-based hybrid energy storage system（HESS） is used to improve energy conversion efficiency and reduce battery size and cost.An all-in-one-controller（AIOC） which integrates engine electronic control unit（ECU）,motor ECU,and HESS management system is developed to save materials and energy,and reduce the influence of distribution parameters on circuit.As for the powertrain configuration,four schemes are presented：belt-driven starter generator（BSG） scheme,four-wheel drive HEV scheme,full HEV scheme,and ranger-extender electric vehicle（EV） scheme.Component selection and parameter matching for the propulsion system are performed,and an energy management strategy is developed based on powertrain configuration and selected components.Forward-facing simulation models are built,comprehending the control strategy based on the optimal engine torque for the low-cost hybrid electric propulsion system.Co-simulation of AVL CRUISE and Matlab/Simulink is presented and the best scheme is selected.The simulation results indicate that,for the best design,fuel consumption in urban driving condition is 4.11 L/（100 km） and 0-50 km/h accelerating time is 10.95 s.The proposed research can realize low-cost concept for HEV while achieving satisfactory fuel economy and kinetic performance,and help to improve commercialization of HEVs.

The Two-Constant Cost Model and the Estimation of the Cost Performance Evolutions of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Power Generation

This paper aims at formulization and overview of the cost performance evolutions of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell power generation along with load and time. For this purpose, electricity-cost ratio (ECR) is proposed as the measuring parameter for the cost performance and a two-constant cost model is proposed to concisely describe the cost characteristic of the power generation as the opposite of a multi-constant cost model. Combination of the two-constant cost model and the ideal cell model developed recently produces an inclusive ECR equation that has three analytical expressions and thus allows of straight overviews of the cost performance evolutions in the working zones of the cells. The applications to real cells confirm the validity of the equation for operation optimization and technique evaluation of PEM fuel cells. And more insights into the cost performance evolutions are inferred by means of the equation to help promote the commercialization of PEM fuel cells.

Discrimination and Estimation of the Maximum Cost Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Power Generation with Seven Constants

This paper is dedicated to analytical expression of the maximum electricity-cost ratio (M-ECR) point of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell power generation as the function of cell constants and cost constants. That is to formulize the maximum cost performance (MCP) magnitude and the optimal final operating (OFO) location in the working zone based on the five-constant ideal cell model and the two-constant cost model. The issues are well resolved by introducing the concepts of economic voltage and cost factor and describing the movement of the M-ECR point with cost factor. According to mathematical derivations, the movement can be described in the form of MCP and OFO curves. The derivations lead to a complete set of discriminants and criteria of the M-ECR point of PEM fuel cells that theoretically cover all of cell specialties and all of cost specialties. The discriminants and criteria may act as a general tool for the operation optimization of a diversity of PEM fuel cells and the economic viability estimation of the power generation.

Airlines Cost Control in China:An Overlooked Perspective

With the deepening of economic globalization,the business environment has seen profound changes.The cost of aviation fuel has grown to represent a significant portion of air transportation costs for“energy-dependent”airlines.The cost of aviation fuel makes up a sizeable amount of Chinese airlines’cost structure and is increasingly limiting their profitability.The question of how to control the cost of aviation fuel from various perspectives has garnered widespread attention.This paper puts forward an overlooked perspective-the procurement strategy.Firstly,it describes the necessity of aviation fuel cost control,and then analyzes specific cases of aviation fuel procurement cost control.Finally,it proposes several effective suggestions from the perspective of aviation fuel procurement,aiming to improve the refined management of Chinese airlines’aviation fuel procurement.

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.

Vehicle routing problem for save fuel consumption

This study has extended a vehicle routing problem,by considering economy of fuel,and constructing a LF-VRP model,to obtain optimal fixed costs.Our objective was to minimize not only distance,but also the fuel consumption.A example were developed to solve the proposed models.It was found that our proposed models yielded better results than the traditional VRP models.

Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from Aqueous Solution by Adsorption on Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA)

This study investigated the removal of hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI) from aqueous solution by adsorption using palm oil fuel ash (POFA), an agricultural waste from the palm oil industry. POFA adsorbent was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Batch adsorption study revealed that the optimum conditions for the removal were as follows: pH 2, adsorbent dosage 80 g/L and contact time of 6 min, which resulted in 92% removal and 0.464 mg/g maximum adsorption capacity. Adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies showed that Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models fitted best to the experimental data. Column adsorption study at 5 mL/min of flow rate showed that 90% removal was obtained at 2 min of contact time which represented its breakthrough point. The column reached saturation at 30 min and the maximum column adsorption capacity recorded was 0.412 mg/g. The column adsorption behavior showed good fit with both Thomas and Yoon-Nelson kinetic models. These findings suggested that the utilization of POFA as a low-cost adsorbent to remove Cr(VI) from wastewater, either in batch or fixed bed adsorption system is not only effective, but concurrently will help to reduce wastes from the palm oil industry.

A Visual Integrated Analysis Platform for Nuclear Fuel Cycle System Based on Multilevel Flow Model

Complex Nuclear Fuel Cycle (NFC) system faces many socio-technical issues that need to obtain the consensus between stakeholders of different knowledge background. In this paper, a visualized analysis platform based on graphical functional modeling method, Multilevel Flow Model (MFM), is proposed to help those stakeholders to recognize and analyze various socio-technical issues in NFC system. Some new functions, such as “Reaction Function", “Switch Function" and “Conversion Function", are introduced to fulfill new simulation tasks for NFC system. Based upon this methodology, a micro-process and a macro-process of NFC system are simulated and meanwhile some key analysis variables, such as CO2 emission and cost flow, required by some analysis methods are deducted and displayed in the platform. And finally a sample simulation analysis is conducted based on MFM.

Economic Dispatch with Multiple Fuel Options Using CCF

This paper presents an efficient analytical approach using Composite Cost Function (CCF) for solving the Economic Dispatch problem with Multiple Fuel Options (EDMFO). The solution methodology comprises two stages. Firstly, the CCF of the plant is developed and the most economical fuel of each set can be easily identified for any load demand. In the next stage, for the selected fuels, CCF is evaluated and the optimal scheduling is obtained. The Proposed Method (PM) has been tested on the standard ten-generation set system;each set consists of two or three fuel options. The total fuel cost obtained by the PM is compared with earlier reports in order to validate its effectiveness. The comparison clears that this approach is a promising alterna-tive for solving EDMFO problems in practical power system.

绿色甲醇产业发展现状及前景分析

全球绿色甲醇产业驶入发展快车道,预计年产能将由2023年的50万吨快速扩张至2028年的1950万吨。电制甲醇或将成为未来绿色甲醇主流生产方式。未来生物质制甲醇生产成本下降潜力相对有限,电制甲醇生产成本下降空间较大。绿色化工原料或是绿色甲醇应用前景的基本盘。中国已初步构建起绿色甲醇产业生态,在市场需求、替代场景、技术路线等关键要素尚未完全明确的背景下,电力、化工等企业对绿色甲醇的投资意图各有侧重。全球绿色甲醇产业存在认证标准相对严苛、短期内面临供大于求的市场风险、航运巨头为绿色甲醇燃料付出超高溢价的行为或不可持续等不确定性。建议推进中国绿色甲醇认证标准的出台,探索建立绿色甲醇政府扶持政策,并突出龙头企业的“强链”引领作用。

乏燃料干法和水法后处理设施经济性分析

核燃料循环是影响核电经济评价的重要因素,是推进核能发展的关键问题。乏燃料后处理作为核燃料循环后段的重要组成部分,其经济成本会影响整体的核燃料循环成本。为对核燃料循环尤其是后段循环成本的分析提供更准确参考,本文调研了国外干法和水法后处理设施的经济性数据,并结合对快堆乏燃料后处理设施的经济性研究,进行了热堆和快堆乏燃料的干法和水法后处理成本的分析,给出了各设施的后处理成本数据。

生活垃圾机械生物干化技术的工程应用和分析

机械生物干化(MBT)技术作为一种生活垃圾处理工艺,将生活垃圾转化为固体替代燃料(SRF),实现了垃圾资源化和减量化的双重目标。由于生产出的SRF具有可替代部分化石燃料的特性,因此对于减少碳排放具有显著的环境效益。该工艺在欧洲已经取得广泛应用,但在我国的实际运用仍处于起步阶段。以临淄生活垃圾焚烧厂为例,对MBT技术的工艺特点和处理效果进行了分析和总结,探讨了项目运行中存在的问题,并提出了对策建议。研究结果表明,该项目MBT系统处理吨垃圾耗电量为61.09 kWh,平均垃圾处理成本约为71.98元/t。生活垃圾经过MBT处理产生的资源物为金属和SRF,其中SRF产品含水率均值为34%、低位热值在设计值(10 454 kJ/kg)以上。通过此项分析,可为其他同类型工程的工艺设计及运营分析提供参考。

基于生命周期碳排放和总拥有成本的公交车队更新优化

为探索电能和氢能源作为常规公交替代燃料的优势和潜力,确定公交车队更新时序的优化方案,从生命周期的角度综合考虑碳排放和总拥有成本的影响,提出了一种混合整数规划模型.基于柴油、天然气、油电混合、纯电动和氢燃料电池5种动力类型公交的运营数据,分析了电力结构、制氢方式、车辆购置成本和氢能源使用成本的不确定性对车队更新方案的影响.结果表明:电动公交车是当前公交车队更新的最佳选择;在现有的车辆技术水平和制氢方式情景下,不宜选择氢燃料电池公交;在蓝氢或绿氢得到大规模商业化之前,不建议通过财政补贴的方式全面推广氢燃料电池公交;采用该方法可以在不同情景和预期目标下确定公交车队的更新优化方案,促进绿色可持续发展.

基于多区域全分布算法的主动配电网动态经济调度方法

由于传统方法在进行主动配电网动态经济调度过程中,没有对目标函数内状态变量存在的越界情况进行处理,主动配电网电压超越上限,从而导致调度效果不佳,因此,提出基于多区域全分布算法的主动配电网动态经济调度方法。利用多区域全分布算法实施机会约束规划,根据规划结果,建立对应的多目标模型,通过罚函数形式对目标函数内状态变量存在的越界情况进行处理,避免主动配电网电压超越上限,使电压在上限之内。根据柴油机发电爬坡方面、线路传输方面、主网与区域配电网最大交互传输功率方面和储能单元方面,通过蒙特卡罗模拟方法对经济调度时的约束条件进行选取,改进传统粒子群算法,并利用改进结果对模型进行求解,从而实现动态性经济调度的目的。仿真实验结果表明,该方法的调度结果是有效、动态的,并且调度精度较高,调度时间较短,适用于主动配电网的光伏与风电等的调度,继续精进后有良好的应用前景。

低成本可消耗无人机极限不可用燃油量确定方法研究

对于低成本可消耗无人机,为了发挥其燃油的最大效能,需要在预定的飞行作战轨迹下测算出其极限的不可用燃油量。本文针对某型低成本可消耗无人机提出了一种极限不可用燃油量的确定方法。通过切割油面角建立该无人机特定姿态下的不可用燃油数据库,在此数据库的基础上拟合出该无人机所有姿态下不可用燃油量与俯仰角、滚转角之间的数学关系;将该无人机根据六自由度数学模型仿真出的随时间变化的理论剩余油量与相应时刻下对应姿态的不可用燃油量进行比较,确定特定飞行任务下该无人机的极限不可用燃油量。通过这种方法计算得到的极限不可用燃油量和该无人机实际飞行剩余油量误差仅有0.27L,误差小于传统民航飞机不可用油量计算方法的3.68L,误差减小了3.41L,燃油利用率提高了3.9%,表明此方法的准确性与可行性。

氢燃料电池高性能催化剂研究进展

氢燃料电池是高效、清洁的能源利用转化装置,目前,氢燃料电池使用的催化剂多是碳载铂催化剂或碳载铂基合金催化剂。这类催化剂的价格较高,在使用过程中,催化氧还原反应的活性逐渐衰减,因此必须寻找活性更高、稳定性更强的低铂催化剂。本文结合氢燃料电池中常见的氧还原反应催化剂,综述铂基催化剂制备方法的研究进展,指出铂基催化剂实现低成本与高性能的重点技术问题,以期为研发与制备氢燃料电池的高性能低成本催化剂提供新思路。

固体氧化物电解池的发展及研究现状

固体氧化物电解池(SOEC)可以高效、清洁地与可再生能源进行耦合并将其转化为化学能,是一种高效、环保的能量转化装置,但是存在长期运行性能衰减问题,这个问题也是固体氧化物电解水制氢实现大规模商业化的关键所在。本文简要介绍了SOEC的发展历程、类别及其组成和运行原理;详细阐述了该项技术的优、缺点及运行成本;重点对SOEC性能衰减的因素进行了分析,SOEC的组成、运行模式、连接板材料及运行条件等是造成性能衰减的主要因素;最后通过论文和专利数量分析了固体氧化物电解池的研究现状和未来发展趋势,认为虽然固体氧化物燃料电池(SOFC)发展较为成熟,但迫于目前环境需求,为了充分利用清洁能源,降低碳排放,SOEC制氢技术的大规模商业化必然是未来行业的发展方向,目前SOEC性能的稳定及低成本制备是该技术发展面临的主要问题。

考虑运行效益的离网型微电网功率优化研究

以风、光发电为主的离网型微电网功率具有随机性和不可控性特征,导致其运行效益较差。为提高离网型微电网的运行效益,采用改进的粒子群算法。通过引入混沌扰动后的惯性权重与线性变化的学习因子,提高算法的收敛速度和精度。以运维成本、污染治理与燃料成本最低为目标函数,搭建风、光、柴、储的微电网模型对所提算法进行验证。算例结果表明采用所提算法优化后的微电网系统有效地节省了总成本,验证了所提算法对离网型微电网功率优化的有效性。