Vapor-dynamic cooling systems for nuclear power plants

Are the results of the pilot study intensive cooling pools extracts of spent nuclear fuel at nuclear power plants using vapor-dynamic technology. The possibility of passive heat dissipation energy axially heat flow density above 106 W/m2. © 2017 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences

Ecological foresight in the nuclear power of XXI century

The access to reliable sources of energy is the key to sustainable development of mankind. The major part of the energy consumed by people is generated with a chemical reaction of fossil fuel burning. This leads to quick depletion of natural resources and progressing environmental pollution. The contribution of the renewable energy sources to the general energy production remains insignificant. A modern 1,000 MW coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) burns 2.5 million tons of coal per year and produces significant amount of solid and gaseous waste. TPPs are the largest consumers of atmospheric oxygen and sources of carbon dioxide. A nuclear power plant (NPP) of the same power consumes less than 50 tons of fuel per year. Environmentally significant NPP’s waste (liquid, solid and gaseous) is carefully collected, reduced in volume (evaporation, filtering, compaction, incineration, etc.) and securely isolated from the environment at the plant. The annual volume of waste for storage is less than 100 m3. The waste is under the control of a special NPP’s service and regulatory authorities. The energy of fission reaction millions of times exceeding the energy of burning has an enormous potential that mankind can receive. Four hundred and thirty-three nuclear power units with a total capacity of about 400 GW exist in the world. The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP in Japan in March 2011 caused anxiety about nuclear safety throughout the world and raised questions about the future of nuclear power. Now, it is clear that the use of nuclear power will continue to grow in the coming decades, although the growth will be slower than was anticipated before the accident. Many countries with existing nuclear power programmes plan to expand them. Many new countries, both developed and developing, plan to introduce nuclear power. Some countries, such as Germany, plan to abandon nuclear energy. The IAEA’s latest projections show a steady rise in the number of NPPs in the world in the next 20 years. They project a growth in nuclear power capacity by 23% by 2030 in the low projection and by 100% in the high projection [1,2]. The basis of modern nuclear power comprises water-cooled nuclear reactors which use the energy potential of natural uranium inefficiently (thermal reactors). The thermal reactors use isotope U-235 in which the content of natural uranium is <1%. Breeder reactors are capable of using the significant part of energy potential, which is unavailable to thermal light water reactors. As a result, the same starting quantity of uranium can produce 50 times more energy. These reactors can transform U-238 into fissile Pu-239 in larger amounts than they consume fissile material. This feature is called ‘breeding’ [3]. The key problem of using the basic benefitsv of nuclear power is to ensure the safety of its use, as well as decommissioning and reliable isolation of process waste from the biosphere. The long-term large-scale nuclear power should possess guaranteed safety, economic stability and competitiveness, absence of the raw material base restrictions for a long period of time and environmental sustainability (low waste). The nuclear power systems with fast neutron reactors and liquid metal coolant can satisfy these conditions. More than 40 years of Russian experience in the field of construction and operation of sodium fast reactors makes it possible to summarize and analyze the ecological features of reactors of this type, the possibility of their use for sustainable energy supply of mankind and solving environmental problems

Electronic dispatch of energy consumption in a building with its own renewable energy - Smart house

In this study, it has been discussed methodically the control system of energy consumption from the power grid, generating electric energy on a seasonal basis (winter) heat load (thermocouples) and the utility of a set of renewable energy (solar photovoltaic, wind turbines and ground source heat pumps). It has also been taken into account the significant difference of energy network day and night consumption tariffs, seasonal heating load changes, solar insolation, and wind speeds. It has been figured out that the combined system of power supply at home, using the possibilities of the power system for the accumulation of excess renewable energy sources during the summer months, we can substantially simplify and reduce the cost of energy. The ability to use modern energy-saving equipment to simplify and reduce the consumer source system has been demonstrated. As well the new criteria for system optimization based on value analysis, the algorithm of complex consumer source control to implement a minimum cost supply at home, developed implementation flowchart of this algorithm based on modern microprocessor technology have been pointed out. © 2017 WIT Press

Production of a reducing environment for metallurgy using nuclear energy

One of the promising ways to reduce the energy consumption of metal production is the use of direct reduction technologies. In this paper the prospects of involving a nuclear energy source based on high temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors (HTGR) in the production of reducing gases for metallurgy are considered. The description and main thermohydraulic features of a prospective methane converter with radial flow of a gaseous reaction mixture are given. The heat produced in HTGR is fed to the converter through a pipe system with a helium flow. The application of the methane converter with a radial gas flow scheme provides more compact construction and lower hydraulic loss in comparison with the traditional axial scheme. © 2014 WIT Press.International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering;International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning;WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environmen

Ecological foresight in the nuclear power of XXI century

The access to reliable sources of energy is the key to sustainable development of mankind. The major part of the energy consumed by people is generated with a chemical reaction of fossil fuel burning. This leads to quick depletion of natural resources and progressing environmental pollution. The contribution of the renewable energy sources to the general energy production remains insignificant. A modern 1,000 MW coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) burns 2.5 million tons of coal per year and produces significant amount of solid and gaseous waste. TPPs are the largest consumers of atmospheric oxygen and sources of carbon dioxide. A nuclear power plant (NPP) of the same power consumes less than 50 tons of fuel per year. Environmentally significant NPP’s waste (liquid, solid and gaseous) is carefully collected, reduced in volume (evaporation, filtering, compaction, incineration, etc.) and securely isolated from the environment at the plant. The annual volume of waste for storage is less than 100 m3. The waste is under the control of a special NPP’s service and regulatory authorities. The energy of fission reaction millions of times exceeding the energy of burning has an enormous potential that mankind can receive. Four hundred and thirty-three nuclear power units with a total capacity of about 400 GW exist in the world. The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP in Japan in March 2011 caused anxiety about nuclear safety throughout the world and raised questions about the future of nuclear power. Now, it is clear that the use of nuclear power will continue to grow in the coming decades, although the growth will be slower than was anticipated before the accident. Many countries with existing nuclear power programmes plan to expand them. Many new countries, both developed and developing, plan to introduce nuclear power. Some countries, such as Germany, plan to abandon nuclear energy. The IAEA’s latest projections show a steady rise in the number of NPPs in the world in the next 20 years. They project a growth in nuclear power capacity by 23% by 2030 in the low projection and by 100% in the high projection [1,2]. The basis of modern nuclear power comprises water-cooled nuclear reactors which use the energy potential of natural uranium inefficiently (thermal reactors). The thermal reactors use isotope U-235 in which the content of natural uranium is <1%. Breeder reactors are capable of using the significant part of energy potential, which is unavailable to thermal light water reactors. As a result, the same starting quantity of uranium can produce 50 times more energy. These reactors can transform U-238 into fissile Pu-239 in larger amounts than they consume fissile material. This feature is called ‘breeding’ [3]. The key problem of using the basic benefitsv of nuclear power is to ensure the safety of its use, as well as decommissioning and reliable isolation of process waste from the biosphere. The long-term large-scale nuclear power should possess guaranteed safety, economic stability and competitiveness, absence of the raw material base restrictions for a long period of time and environmental sustainability (low waste). The nuclear power systems with fast neutron reactors and liquid metal coolant can satisfy these conditions. More than 40 years of Russian experience in the field of construction and operation of sodium fast reactors makes it possible to summarize and analyze the ecological features of reactors of this type, the possibility of their use for sustainable energy supply of mankind and solving environmental problems

Numerical simulation of hydraulic processes in anaerobic bioreactors

The aim of the work was to determine the rate and uniformity of temperature distribution in the amount of biogas plant constructed by UrFU, "Avanguard" PLC and "Gildia-M" Ltd on the stage of warming and achieving the rated work conditions corresponding to the mesophilic fermentation process. A computer model of the biogas reactor, considering the main unit features, was created. The installation heating was carried out by uniform thermal energy supply through the outer surface of the vessel full of substrate. Numerical solution was achieved by the finite volume method which has the following features. The calculation results in the form of temperature fields and the substrate particle trajectories for several time moments are given in this paper. The results analysis shows the possibility to use the model for the thermohydraulic computation of various operation modes of the bioreactor. © 2014 WIT Press.International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering;International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning;WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environmen

Experimental investigation of modified solar still productivity under variable climatic conditions

Conversion of untreated water into drinking water using solar distillation technology can be considered as the most viable methods in the dry climate regions and remote areas. The productivity of solar stills influences by various conditions such as design, operational and environmental conditions. The current paper includes a practical investigation of the effects the climatic conditions on the fresh water production from modified single-slope solar still in Russia. Results analysis showed that the mechanism of heat transfer and mass transfer within the solar still depend on environmental parameters. The heat transfer coefficients have been gradually increased from the early morning after 08:00 am and reached the highest value at the noon then decrease gradually afternoon to reach the lowest value at 20:00 pm. The maximum value of coefficient of heat transfer by evaporation found to be 12.1 W/m2. K at 17:00 pm on 19.06.2019, then 9.9 W/m2. K at 17:00 pm on 18.06.2019, and 2 W/m2. K at 18:00 pm on 17.06.2019. Therefore, a noticeable improvement in the fresh water productivity from solar still has been observed with increasing solar radiation intensity, ambient temperature and decreasing relative humidity. The amount of production during a cloudy day was 287 ml/m2, 620 ml/m2 for a partial cloudy day and 950 ml/m2 during a sunny day. © 2020 WITPress. All rights reserved

Stability of the film flow passing round the cross-section elements in the area of high density irrigation

The paper studies the loss of stability of a liquid film using regular surface roughness. The model of the breakdown process is described and the conditions for the formation of a liquid film breakdown are determined experimentally. It was found that there are two characteristic modes, namely drop and film regimes. Using the methods of thermal anemometry, data were obtained on the distribution of the droplet sizes after a film breakdown and the dependence of the We number on the projection arrangement height was plotted. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant No. 17-38-50069

Analysis of the hydropower potential of the Krasnoufimsky District

The article deals with the hydropower potential of the existing reservoirs of the Krasnoufimsky district. The results of power calculations and calculated power generation at the existing dams of the Krasnoufimsky district under different types of regulation are presented.В статье рассматривается гидроэнергетический потенциала существующих водохранилищ Красноуфимского района. Приведены результаты расчетов мощностей и расчетной выработки электроэнергии на существующих плотинах Красноуфимского района при различных видах регулирования