Nuclear power fleet replacement: an opportunity for the French energy mix?

International audience– In France, 27% of the electricity is to be produced by renewable resources by 2020. This share is intended to grow continuously up to 2050. The recent European agreement and the French " energy transition law " will promote such a development. The French power system is characterized by high nuclear penetration and nuclear power is meant to remain a significant contributor in the medium and long term, as a low-carbon power source. More than half the French nuclear power fleet was installed in the late seventies / early eighties. Thus, the issue of its replacement is at the core of the French power mix issue. The objective of this paper is to provide some insights about the opportunity it enables for the energy mix. Two plausible replacement scenarios are developed and analyzed as regards the energy cost provided by nuclear power. For a given target level of nuclear installed capacities, the penetration of non-dispatchable renewables with dispatch priority will increase the need for nuclear power modulation at reduced average load factor. The impact of modulation on the nuclear levelized cost of electricity is assessed, according to the considered replacement scenario and for different renewable and nuclear energy penetration scenarios. Results show that, according to the selected assumptions, implementing a progressive shutdown (based on an increased operation lifetime of Nuclear Power Plants) appears a relevant choice since it both provides a lowest power production cost even at reduced average load factor to participate to load following and allows the possibility of " waiting " for choosing most sustainable technologies

Nuclear and non-dispatchable renewables: two compatible supply options? The case of the French power mix

The complementary features of low-carbon power sources are a central issue in designing energy transition policies. The French current electricity mix is characterised by a high share of nuclear power which equalled 73% of the total electric production in 2013. With the increase of non-dispatchable renewable resources, nuclear flexibility is examined as part of the solution to balance electricity supply and demand. Our proposed methodology involves designing scenarios of nuclear and non-dispatchable renewable penetration levels, and developing residual load duration curves in each case. The load modulation impact on the nuclear production cost is estimated. This article shows to which extent the nuclear annual energy production will decrease with high shares of non-dispatchable renewables (down to load factors of 40% for proactive assumptions). However, the production cost increase could be compensated by implementing a progressive replacement of the plants. Besides, incentives proves required for nuclear to compete with combined cycle gas turbines as its alternative backup option. In order to make the social planner and plant operator goals coincide, the solution could be to find new outlets rather than reducing nuclear load factors. To conclude, nuclear flexibility could then be considered through the power use by producing heat or hydrogen

Deployable nuclear fleet based on available quantities of uranium and reactor types – the case of fast reactors started up with enriched uranium

International organizations regularly produce global energy demand scenarios. To account for the increasing population and GDP trends, as well as to encompass evolving energy uses while satisfying constraints on greenhouse gas emissions, long-term installed nuclear power capacity scenarios tend to be more ambitious, even after the Fukushima accident. Thus, the amounts of uranium or plutonium needed to deploy such capacities could be limiting factors. This study first considers light-water reactors (LWR, GEN III) using enriched uranium, like most of the current reactor technologies. It then examines the contribution of future fast reactors (FR, GEN IV) operating with an initial fissile load and then using depleted uranium and recycling their own plutonium. However, as plutonium is only available in limited quantity since it is only produced in nuclear reactors, the possibility of starting up these Generation IV reactors with a fissile load of enriched uranium is also explored. In one of our previous studies, the uranium consumption of a third-generation reactor like an EPR™ was compared with that of a fast reactor started up with enriched uranium (U5-FR). For a reactor lifespan of 60 years, the U5-FR consumes three times less uranium than the EPR and represents a 60% reduction in terms of separative work units (SWU), though its requirements are concentrated over the first few years of operation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relevance of U5-FRs in a nuclear fleet deployment configuration. Considering several power demand scenarios and assuming different finite quantities of available natural uranium, this paper examines what types of reactors must be deployed to meet the demand. The deployment of light-water reactors only is not sustainable in the long run. Generation IV reactors are therefore essential. Yet when started up with plutonium, the number of reactors that can be deployed is also limited. In a fleet deployment configuration, U5-FRs appear to provide the best solution for using uranium, even if the economic impact of this consumption during the first years of operation is significant

Impact of a possible large scale development of SMRs on natural uranium consumption and deployment of nuclear power worldwide

International audienceSmall modular reactors (SMRs) are on the rise, especially because of their expected modularity, shorter construction time, and low capital costs compared to large Generation III nuclear reactors; they are also likely to be more uranium intensive. In such case, we studied the impact of SMR development on uranium resources and its effect on fast reactor deployment using GRUS, a system dynamic-based numerical tool. Based on nuclear energy demand scenarios up to the year 2150, we show the evolution of the nuclear fleet by reactor type, along with the associated uranium consumption. In all our scenarios and even without SMRs, the global development of nuclear energy in 2150 already exceeds conventional uranium resources. On top of it, in a nuclear fleet made of EPRs and FRs, SMRs could lead to an additional uranium requirement of about 25%. Furthermore, the non-reprocessing of SMRs spent fuels would reduce plutonium stocks, what would impact the deployment of fast reactors and cause an additional demand of natural uranium of more than 10%. Finally, the SMRs, by accelerating the use of uranium resources, increase its cost and bring forward the date of competitiveness of fast reactors from a few years to several decades. The results indicate that to ensure the sustainability of nuclear power with SMRs, a particular attention must be paid during the design phase of such modular reactors to uranium consumption and fuel reprocessing

A critical assessment of global uranium resources, including uranium in phosphate rocks, and the possible impact of uranium shortages on nuclear power fleets

International audienc

Building future nuclear power fleets: The available uranium resources constraint

International audienc

Comment me documenter ?

Avec le réseau Internet, l’accès à l’information et à la documentation s’est démocratisé ; il est devenu possible à chacun d’accéder à toutes les informations disponibles à condition de « savoir-faire », de « savoir chercher »… Comment amorcer ma recherche documentaire ? Comment identifier les sources ? Où et à qui s’adresser ? Comment chercher la documentation ? Quelle démarche ? Quelle stratégie ? Comment évaluer la documentation ? Comment la gérer, garder une trace ? Comment présenter ma documentation ? Ce livre propose de réponses à ces questions, des réponses à celui qui souhaite se documenter, chercher, traiter, évaluer, gérer et présenter sa documentation dans le cadre de son travail de recherche ou de son travail professinnel. Le premier but de ce manuel est d’aider à la recherche documentaire d’une façon systématique et méthodique en partant des questions que l’on se pose lors de la rédaction d’un travail. La méthodologie de la recherche documentaire est la même pour toutes les disciplines qu’il s’agisse de santé, de politique, de physique ou d’éducation. Par contre, les sources d’information sont différentes. Dans sa démarche, ce manuel peut aider le chercheur de documentation dans n’importe quelle discipline. Le deuxième but de ce manuel est d’approfondir les sources documentaires disponibles en français dans les domaines spécifiques de la formation et de l’éducation pour cinq pays francophones : Belgique francophone, Canada-Québec, France, Luxembourg et Suisse romande. Dans ses exemples, ses références et ses illustrations, ce manuel s’adresse surtout à un public concerné par les sciences de l’éducation. Ecrit dans un style direct à la première personne, le lecteur pourra facilement s’identifier au personnage principal « chercheur de documentation » qui avec son complice documentaliste « Augustin » parcourt l’ouvrage en surmontant ses doutes et ses difficultés. Un « site compagnon » a été créé et sera mis à jour régulièrement pour illustrer et surtout concrétiser les résultats obtenus lors de l’exploration systématique de la « toile » (Internet) dans ces domaines: www.uclouvain.be/fopa-smp

Comment me documenter? : formateurs, enseignants, étudiants /

Bibliogr.: p. 165-166Webographi