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By Clive Banerjee
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
http://www.indepthnews.net/
VIENNA (IDN) – Despite widespread scepticism, a United Nations agency is convinced that growing concerns over climate change, energy resource availability and energy security will give a significant boost to nuclear power in the coming years. It is, therefore, playing a pivotal role in developing a new generation of atomic reactors.
The so-called ‘Generation IV’ reactors – expected to be deployed between 2020 and 2030 –will be designed to meet the criteria of sustainability, enhanced safety, minimal generation of nuclear waste, further reduction of the risk of weapons materials proliferation, and reduced capital cost, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Vienna-based UN agency argues that “if nuclear is to make a contribution in meeting the world’s future energy needs, it has to be developed and expanded in a sustainable manner”.
For that reason, it is bringing together nuclear technology holders and users to consider jointly international and national actions that would result in innovations in nuclear reactors, fuel cycles and institutional approaches.
The Agency’s efforts in this sense are led by the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO), a mechanism for members to collaborate on these issues and to help member states to assess the sustainability.
"What countries are looking at is a commitment of at least 100 years," says Randy Beatty INPRO group leader from the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Energy. “That means the nuclear energy option has to be sustainable," he adds.
"International cooperation and collaboration are instrumental to both of our missions and objectives, and INPRO strives to work in synergy with other international initiatives such as the Generation IV International Forum (GIF)," said Yury Sokolov, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy, opening a GIF-INPRO meeting March 1-3, 2010 in Vienna.
"Recognition of the complementarities of the two projects opens opportunities for new forms of cooperation," he said.
“We need cooperation on technical innovation to reduce costs, enhance both safety and proliferation resistance capabilities," explains Yutaka Sagayama, Deputy Director General of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Chairman of GIF. "We need to cooperate to make the best efforts to develop these systems as early as possible."
While GIF is focused on reactor technologies, INPRO is looking at broader issues, focusing more on institutional and infrastructure requirements that can support the implementation of technological innovation and developing a methodology for Nuclear Energy System Assessment (NESA).
"To begin with, we will hold a series of workshops on issues relating to safety approaches and priorities for advanced sodium-cooled fast reactors," explains Jong Kyun Park, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Power. Work on other types of reactors and areas will follow.
"Both GIF and INPRO are working on methodologies to assess these new nuclear energy systems in the areas of proliferation resistance and physical protection, risk and safety assessment, and economics, and there is great value to harmonizing these efforts between the two multilateral projects," says Beatty.
"We are working on the viability and feasibility of these systems right now," says Harold McFarlane, Technical Director of GIF. "They are promising systems but they are not at the stage of deployment yet."
TOWARD SUSTAINABLE NUCLEAR INNOVATIONS
Commitment, sustainability, and cooperation: these were the buzzwords at the first workshop of the INPRO Dialogue Forum on Nuclear Energy Innovations February 1-3, 2010 in Vienna.
INPRO was set up in 2000 to help ensure that nuclear energy can meet the energy needs of the 21st century. At present, 30 IAEA Member States – including Algeria, Italy and Kazakhstan who joined in 2009 – and the European Commission comprise the INPRO membership, while a further ten countries participate on a working level.
Opening the forum, Sokolov said: "Nuclear energy has become a leading option in a world that has to meet ever-increasing energy needs while facing the strong initiative to reduce CO2 emissions and dependence on dwindling fossil fuels."
But is nuclear power a viable and sustainable option for every country? That is another aspect that INPRO looks at in cooperation with the IAEA’s Planning and Economic Studies Section (PESS).
"We provide tools that allow a country to assess if nuclear power can indeed be a part of its energy supply," says Ahmed Jalal, a senior energy and nuclear power planner in PESS.
The IAEA is aware that countries opting to include nuclear power need to look at more than just the economics. What is the state of the available infrastructure, what technological innovations can be adopted, how can nuclear waste be managed, how can environmental safety be assured, how can proliferation be avoided: these are but some of the questions that need answers before a commitment to go nuclear is made.
With this in view, INPRO provides tools to countries to assess these factors and ensure sustainability for nuclear energy systems. "No one country or region can work in isolation when working to tap in on nuclear energy," says Hussam Khartabil, Scientific Secretary of the INPRO Dialogue Forum.
"For example, one country may have uranium deposits; another, the technology to deal with spent fuel." (IDN-InDepthNews/12.03.2010)
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