IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2019i1p134-d302286.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamics for Sustainable Nuclear Buildup Based on LWR and FBR Technologies and Its Impact on CO 2 Emission Reduction

Author

Listed:
  • Boris Crnobrnja

    (Technical School Fran Bosnjakovic, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Krešimir Trontl

    (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Dubravko Pevec

    (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Mario Matijević

    (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia)

Abstract

In recent years, most of the growth in electricity demand is covered by renewable and nuclear energy sources. However, electricity generation in fossil-fired power plants is also increasing resulting in the increase of CO 2 emissions. Nuclear energy has to be considered as one of the available tools to accomplish CO 2 emission reduction in electricity sector. Light water reactors (LWR) are currently the dominant nuclear technology but their intensive application in long-term period is constrained by available uranium fuel resources. Fast breeder reactors’ (FBR) technology is not used on a larger scale. Plutonium resources are limited, but do have the potential of stronger buildup if light water reactors, as the source of plutonium, are used on a larger scale. The appropriate dynamics for LWR/FBR buildup till the end of the 21st century is developed under assumptions of different LWR life times, and different uranium fuel resources available. The possible CO 2 emission reduction is calculated with World Energy Outlook 2015 development scenarios being set as reference ones. It is shown that nuclear fuel resources do not represent an obstacle for strong nuclear buildup leading to significant CO 2 emission reduction. However, the reduction is mostly achieved in the second half of the century.

Suggested Citation

  • Boris Crnobrnja & Krešimir Trontl & Dubravko Pevec & Mario Matijević, 2019. "Dynamics for Sustainable Nuclear Buildup Based on LWR and FBR Technologies and Its Impact on CO 2 Emission Reduction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2019:i:1:p:134-:d:302286
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/1/134/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/1/134/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Knapp, Vladimir & Pevec, Dubravko & Matijevic, Mario, 2010. "The potential of fission nuclear power in resolving global climate change under the constraints of nuclear fuel resources and once-through fuel cycles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6793-6803, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Budzianowski, Wojciech Marcin, 2011. "Can ‘negative net CO2 emissions’ from decarbonised biogas-to-electricity contribute to solving Poland’s carbon capture and sequestration dilemmas?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 6318-6325.
    2. Gabriel, Sophie & Baschwitz, Anne & Mathonnière, Gilles & Fizaine, Florian & Eleouet, Tommy, 2013. "Building future nuclear power fleets: The available uranium resources constraint," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 458-469.
    3. Knapp, Vladimir & Pevec, Dubravko, 2018. "Promises and limitations of nuclear fission energy in combating climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 94-99.
    4. Muellner, Nikolaus & Arnold, Nikolaus & Gufler, Klaus & Kromp, Wolfgang & Renneberg, Wolfgang & Liebert, Wolfgang, 2021. "Nuclear energy - The solution to climate change?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Luis Obregon & Cristhian Orozco & Josu Camargo & Jorge Duarte & Guillermo Valencia, 2019. "Research trend on Nuclear Energy from 2008 to 2018: A Bibliometric Analysis," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(6), pages 542-551.

    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:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2019:i:1:p:134-:d:302286. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.