An Integrated Multicriteria Decision-Making Approach for Evaluating Nuclear Fuel Cycle Systems for Long-term Sustainability on the Basis of an Equilibrium Model: Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution, Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation, and Multiattribute Utility Theory Combined with Analytic Hierarchy Process

The focus on the issues surrounding spent nuclear fuel and lifetime extension of old nuclear power plants continues to grow nowadays. A transparent decision-making process to identify the best suitable nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) is considered to be the key task in the current situation. Through this study, an attempt is made to develop an equilibrium model for the NFC to calculate the material flows based on 1 TWh of electricity production, and to perform integrated multicriteria decision-making method analyses via the analytic hierarchy process technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation, and multiattribute utility theory methods. This comparative study is aimed at screening and ranking the three selected NFC options against five aspects: sustainability, environmental friendliness, economics, proliferation resistance, and technical feasibility. The selected fuel cycle options include pressurized water reactor (PWR) once-through cycle, PWR mixed oxide cycle, or pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle. A sensitivity analysis was performed to prove the robustness of the results and explore the influence of criteria on the obtained ranking. As a result of the comparative analysis, the pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle is determined to be the most competitive option among the NFC scenarios.ope

Cost overruns – helping to define what they really mean

Civil engineers are often in the firing line for alleged cost overruns, particularly on major publicly funded infrastructure projects. This usually occurs when the final cost of a project is simply compared with the original estimate, even though this was published a long time ago, in different circumstances and for a quite different project to the one carried out. This paper proposes a systematic approach to ensure that cost overruns, should they occur, are more accurately defined in terms of when the initial and end costs are assessed, from which point of view, at which project stage, and including scope changes and financial assumptions. The paper refers to the UK’s £163 billion nuclear decommissioning programme

Assessing the economics of large Energy Storage Plants with an optimisation methodology

Power plants, such as wind farms, that harvest renewable energy are increasing their share of the energy portfolio in several countries, including the United Kingdom. Their inability to match demand power profiles is stimulating an increasing need for large ESP (Energy Storage Plants), capable of balancing their instability and shifting power produced during low demand to peak periods. This paper presents and applies an innovative methodology to assess the economics of ESP utilising UK electricity price data, resulting in three key findings. Firstly the paper provides a methodology to assess the trade-off “reserve capacity vs. profitability” and the possibility of establishing the “optimum size capacity”. The optimal reserve size capacity maximizing the NPV (Net Present Value) is smaller than the optimum size capacity minimizing the subsidies. This is not an optimal result since it complicates the incentive scheme to align investors and policy makers' interests. Secondly, without subsidies, none of the existing ESP technologies are economically sustainable. However, subsidies are a relatively small percentage of the average price of electricity in UK. Thirdly, the possibility of operating ESP as both as a reserve and do price arbitrage was identified as a mean of decreasing subsidies for the ESP technologies

Jurisprudence

Canada – R. v Bruce Power Inc. (2009) États-Unis – Jugement dfune Cour dfAppel des Etats-Unis sur la regle relative a la menace de reference (2009) Jugement de la Cour dfappel des Etats-Unis sur lfexamen des repercussions environnementales dfattaques terroristes contre les installations nucleaires Jugement dfune Cour de District des Etats-Unis sur lfautorite des ententes entre Etats pour restreindre lfevacuation privee de dechets radioactifs etrangers faiblement radioactifs (2009) Union européenne – Jugement de la Cour de justice des Communautes europeennes portant sur lfaffaire Land Oberosterreich v CEZ

National Legislative and Regulatory Activities

BELARUS Amendments to laws on the use of atomic energy (2009) Criminal law on acts concerning the use of radioactive sources and administrative law for non-criminal violations of radiation safety requirements (2009) EGYPT Law on activities in the nuclear and radiation field (2010) FRANCE Decree establishing a Committee on industrial co-ordination of radioactive waste (2010) Law on the recognition and indemnification of victims of nuclear tests conducted by France (2010) GERMANY Tenth Amendment to the Atomic Energy Act (2010) Act on Environmental Impact Assessment (2009) Radiation Protection Commission (2009) Act on the Protection against Non-ionizing Radiation (2009) International transport of dangerous goods by road (2009) IRELAND Order to amend Regulations on Active Implantable Medical Devices (2010) Amendment to Medical Devices Regulations (2010) ITALY Decree setting out rules for the siting, construction and operation of nuclear installations (2010) ROMANIA Law on the reorganisation of public authorities (2009) Government Decision on the reorganisation of electric power producers (2010) SLOVAK REPUBLIC Amendment of the Atomic Act (2009) SPAIN Law regulating limited investment companies quoted on the real estate market (2009) UKRAINE Overview of recent amendments to laws in the field of nuclear energy (2009)

Jurisprudence

Dans une décision rendue le 7 avril 2009, le juge Hughes, de la Cour fédérale du Canada a refusé la demande de révision judiciaire soumise par Linda Keen, l’ancienne présidente de la Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire (CCSN). Mme Keen remettait en cause la légalité du décret la congédiant de son poste de présidente. La Cour a rejeté la demande2 et conclu que la décision était légitime.

Documents and legal texts

European Union Council Directive 2011/70/EURATOM of 19 July 2011 establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste India The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Rules Republic of Korea Act on Establishment and Operation of Nuclear Safety Commission Russian Federation Federal Law on the Management of Radioactive Wastes and amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation