IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v36y2008i12p4323-4330.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Generation-IV nuclear power: A review of the state of the science

Author

Listed:
  • Abram, Tim
  • Ion, Sue

Abstract

The Generation-IV consortium seeks to develop a new generation of nuclear energy systems for commercial deployment by 2020-2030. These systems include both the reactors and their fuel-cycle facilities. The aim is to provide significant improvements in economics, safety, sustainability, and proliferation resistance. The systems selected for development are the very high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR), the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), the gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR), the lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR), the molten salt reactor (MSR) and the super-critical water-cooled reactor (SCWR). UK organisations plan to contribute to the first three of these systems because of its existing capabilities and experience with gas-cooled systems, graphite cores, and SFRs. The science base for the VHTR and SFR systems is reasonably established, although there are gaps. For the VHTR, these include the performance of graphite at high neutron doses, and the performance of the fuel. For the SFR, the behaviour of fuels containing minor actinides, and processes for their recycling and refabrication into new fuel, must be established. The GFR presents many technical challenges, because it would need fuel and structural materials capable of withstanding extremes of fast neutron flux and high temperatures. Adequate heat removal from the core under fault conditions is likely to determine its feasibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Abram, Tim & Ion, Sue, 2008. "Generation-IV nuclear power: A review of the state of the science," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4323-4330, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:36:y:2008:i:12:p:4323-4330
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(08)00444-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Cheng & Zhang, Qiang & Yang, Zhiping & Li, Xiaosa & Xu, Gang & Yang, Yongping, 2018. "An improved supercritical coal-fired power generation system incorporating a supplementary supercritical CO2 cycle," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 1319-1329.
    2. Stephen Thomas & M. V. Ramana, 2022. "A hopeless pursuit? National efforts to promote small modular nuclear reactors and revive nuclear power," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(4), July.
    3. Qiuwen Wang & Hu Zhang & Puxin Zhu, 2023. "Using Nuclear Energy for Maritime Decarbonization and Related Environmental Challenges: Existing Regulatory Shortcomings and Improvements," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Humphrey, Uguru Edwin & Khandaker, Mayeen Uddin, 2018. "Viability of thorium-based nuclear fuel cycle for the next generation nuclear reactor: Issues and prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 259-275.
    5. Brook, Barry W., 2012. "Could nuclear fission energy, etc., solve the greenhouse problem? The affirmative case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 4-8.
    6. Hyeonmin Kim & Jung-Taek Kim & Jaehyuk Eoh & Dong-Won Lim, 2018. "Development of a Physics-Based Monitoring Algorithm Detecting CO 2 Ingress Accidents in a Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Crespi, Francesco & Sánchez, David & Rodríguez, José M. & Gavagnin, Giacomo, 2020. "A thermo-economic methodology to select sCO2 power cycles for CSP applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P3), pages 2905-2912.
    8. Sungjoo Lee & Byungun Yoon & Juneseuk Shin, 2016. "Effects of Nuclear Energy on Sustainable Development and Energy Security: Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Hui, Jiuwu, 2024. "Discrete-time integral terminal sliding mode load following controller coupled with disturbance observer for a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    10. Ramana, M.V. & Saikawa, Eri, 2011. "Choosing a standard reactor: International competition and domestic politics in Chinese nuclear policy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 6779-6789.
    11. Zhu, Zilong & Chen, Yaping & Wu, Jiafeng & Zhang, Shaobo & Zheng, Shuxing, 2019. "A modified Allam cycle without compressors realizing efficient power generation with peak load shifting and CO2 capture," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 478-487.
    12. Contu, Davide & Strazzera, Elisabetta & Mourato, Susana, 2016. "Modeling individual preferences for energy sources: The case of IV generation nuclear energy in Italy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 37-58.
    13. Santos, Ricardo Luis Pereira dos & Rosa, Luiz Pinguelli & Arouca, Maurício Cardoso & Ribeiro, Alan Emanuel Duailibe, 2013. "The importance of nuclear energy for the expansion of Brazil's electricity grid," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 284-289.
    14. Faustino Moreno-Gamboa & Ana Escudero-Atehortua & César Nieto-Londoño, 2022. "Alternatives to Improve Performance and Operation of a Hybrid Solar Thermal Power Plant Using Hybrid Closed Brayton Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, August.
    15. Pfenninger, Stefan & Keirstead, James, 2015. "Comparing concentrating solar and nuclear power as baseload providers using the example of South Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 303-314.
    16. Delsoto, G.S. & Battisti, F.G. & da Silva, A.K., 2023. "Dynamic modeling and control of a solar-powered Brayton cycle using supercritical CO2 and optimization of its thermal energy storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 336-356.
    17. Crespi, Francesco & Gavagnin, Giacomo & Sánchez, David & Martínez, Gonzalo S., 2017. "Supercritical carbon dioxide cycles for power generation: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 152-183.
    18. Lorenzo Malerba & Abderrahim Al Mazouzi & Marjorie Bertolus & Marco Cologna & Pål Efsing & Adrian Jianu & Petri Kinnunen & Karl-Fredrik Nilsson & Madalina Rabung & Mariano Tarantino, 2022. "Materials for Sustainable Nuclear Energy: A European Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for All Reactor Generations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-48, March.
    19. Locatelli, Giorgio & Mancini, Mauro & Todeschini, Nicola, 2013. "Generation IV nuclear reactors: Current status and future prospects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1503-1520.
    20. Frederik Reitsma & Peter Woods & Martin Fairclough & Yongjin Kim & Harikrishnan Tulsidas & Luis Lopez & Yanhua Zheng & Ahmed Hussein & Gerd Brinkmann & Nils Haneklaus & Anand Rao Kacham & Tumuluri Sre, 2018. "On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, January.
    21. Damiani, Lorenzo & Revetria, Roberto, 2015. "New steam generation system for lead-cooled fast reactors, based on steam re-circulation through ejector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 292-300.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fuel cycle VHTR SFR;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:36:y:2008:i:12:p:4323-4330. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.