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Nuclear power supply: Going against the misconceptions. Evidence of nuclear flexibility from the French experience

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  • Cany, C.
  • Mansilla, C.
  • Mathonnière, G.
  • da Costa, P.

Abstract

In the context of power system decarbonisation, higher shares of variable renewables are usually promoted inducing higher flexibility needs. Worthwhile flexibility can be provided by a number of solutions, including baseload power modulation. Nuclear power is usually presented as poorly-flexible, and, as such, a brake to renewable development. This article aims at providing an assessment of nuclear flexibility from a technical viewpoint, based on both a literature review (theory) and industrial feedback of the French nuclear operator (practice). From the confrontation of theory and practice, the actual potential of nuclear power is analysed, both at the reactor scale and the fleet scale. The data shows that, today, nuclear reactors are flexible, and are currently operated in France as such (approximately 40% of the fleet is currently involved in load-following). They also demonstrate that there is a margin to further take advantage of this potential, by increasing the number of reactors involved in load-following operations and the number of operations realised by each reactor.

Suggested Citation

  • Cany, C. & Mansilla, C. & Mathonnière, G. & da Costa, P., 2018. "Nuclear power supply: Going against the misconceptions. Evidence of nuclear flexibility from the French experience," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 289-296.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:151:y:2018:i:c:p:289-296
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.03.064
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    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Salman Shahid & Seun Osonuga & Nana Kofi Twum-Duah & Sacha Hodencq & Benoit Delinchant & Frédéric Wurtz, 2023. "An Assessment of Energy Flexibility Solutions from the Perspective of Low-Tech," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-29, April.
    2. Loisel, Rodica & Lemiale, Lionel & Mima, Silvana & Bidaud, Adrien, 2022. "Strategies for short-term intermittency in long-term prospective scenarios in the French power system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
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    4. Rodica Loisel & Lionel Lemiale & Silvana Mima & Adrien Bidaud, 2022. "Strategies for short-term intermittency in long-term prospective scenarios in the French power system," Post-Print hal-04568072, HAL.
    5. Maximilian Parzen & Fabian Neumann & Addrian H. Van Der Weijde & Daniel Friedrich & Aristides Kiprakis, 2021. "Beyond cost reduction: Improving the value of energy storage in electricity systems," Papers 2101.10092, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2022.
    6. Mezősi, András & Felsmann, Balázs & Kerekes, Lajos & Szabó, László, 2020. "Coexistence of nuclear and renewables in the V4 electricity system: Friends or enemies?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Tlili, Olfa & Mansilla, Christine & Robinius, Martin & Syranidis, Konstantinos & Reuss, Markus & Linssen, Jochen & André, Jean & Perez, Yannick & Stolten, Detlef, 2019. "Role of electricity interconnections and impact of the geographical scale on the French potential of producing hydrogen via electricity surplus by 2035," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 977-990.
    8. Dong, Zhe & Liu, Miao & Guo, Zhiwu & Huang, Xiaojin & Zhang, Yajun & Zhang, Zuoyi, 2019. "Adaptive state-observer for monitoring flexible nuclear reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 893-909.
    9. Teirilä, Juha, 2020. "The value of the nuclear power plant fleet in the German power market under the expansion of fluctuating renewables," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    10. Guo, Qisheng & Wu, Xi & Cai, Hui & Cheng, Liang & Huang, Junhui & Liu, Yichen & Chen, Kangwen, 2024. "Multi-power sources joint optimal scheduling model considering nuclear power peak regulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    11. Zhe Dong & Miao Liu & Di Jiang & Xiaojin Huang & Yajun Zhang & Zuoyi Zhang, 2018. "Automatic Generation Control of Nuclear Heating Reactor Power Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    12. Nguyen, H.D. & Alpy, N. & Haubensack, D. & Barbier, D., 2020. "Insight on electrical and thermal powers mix with a Gen2 PWR: Rankine cycle performances under low to high temperature grade cogeneration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    13. Yuan, Mengyao & Tong, Fan & Duan, Lei & Dowling, Jacqueline A. & Davis, Steven J. & Lewis, Nathan S. & Caldeira, Ken, 2020. "Would firm generators facilitate or deter variable renewable energy in a carbon-free electricity system?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    14. Badr Eddine Lebrouhi & Eric Schall & Bilal Lamrani & Yassine Chaibi & Tarik Kousksou, 2022. "Energy Transition in France," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-28, May.
    15. Guo, Zheyu & Zheng, Yanan & Li, Gengyin, 2020. "Power system flexibility quantitative evaluation based on improved universal generating function method: A case study of Zhangjiakou," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    16. Anna Kluba & Robert Field, 2019. "Optimization and Exergy Analysis of Nuclear Heat Storage and Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-18, November.
    17. Bhattacharya, Subhadip & Banerjee, Rangan & Ramadesigan, Venkatasailanathan & Liebman, Ariel & Dargaville, Roger, 2024. "Bending the emission curve ― The role of renewables and nuclear power in achieving a net-zero power system in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    18. Dong, Zhe & Liu, Miao & Zhang, Zuoyi & Dong, Yujie & Huang, Xiaojin, 2019. "Automatic generation control for the flexible operation of multimodular high temperature gas-cooled reactor plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 11-31.
    19. Alhadhrami, Saeed & Soto, Gabriel J & Lindley, Ben, 2023. "Dispatch analysis of flexible power operation with multi-unit small modular reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    20. Qi Liu & Jie Zhao & Youguo Shao & Libin Wen & Jianxu Wu & Dichen Liu & Yuhui Ma, 2019. "Multi-Power Joint Peak-Shaving Optimization for Power System Considering Coordinated Dispatching of Nuclear Power and Wind Power," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-23, September.
    21. Badr Eddine Lebrouhi & Éric Schall & Bilal Lamrani & Yassine Chaibi & Tarik Kousksou, 2022. "Energy Transition in France," Post-Print hal-03716839, HAL.
    22. Minwoo Hyun & Aleh Cherp & Jessica Jewell & Yeong Jae Kim & Jiyong Eom, 2021. "Feasibility trade-offs in decarbonisation of power sector with high coal dependence: A case of Korea," Papers 2111.02872, arXiv.org.

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