Summary of the 20th "World Nuclear Power Technology Progress" Report Conference
Source: China Nuclear Industry News Date: 2016-04-28
After more than half a century of development, the world's nuclear power has reached the stage of promoting the third generation to conceive the fourth generation. How to look at the future development of nuclear power, and how to look at the world's nuclear power ecology with a more open and integrated vision, has become a proposition of common concern in the global nuclear field.
The following day, at the "World Nuclear Power New Technology" Report Conference of the 20th Pacific Nuclear Energy Conference, reporters observed that the guests responded to the above concerns from aspects of innovation, challenges, and cooperation.
The contention of diversified development
"For our industry to continue to develop, new technologies need to be introduced. The UK now wants to introduce investment from private companies to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors." Ms. Lee McDonough, president of the Office of Nuclear Energy Development of the UK's Department of Climate Change, said the country Willingness to introduce new technologies.
In addition to the ongoing international attention of the Hinkley Point C project, the British government also attaches great importance to the development of small modular reactors (SMR). At the end of 2014, the United Kingdom formulated the SMR2020 development plan, announcing that "in the next 5 years, 250 million pounds (US $ 352 million) will be invested in ambitious nuclear research and development projects." Lee McDonough revealed that in March this year, the British government leaders expressed their hope that SMR could be commercialized in the UK as soon as possible. They will publish an SMR development roadmap, address site selection, regulatory issues, and introduce competition mechanisms to advance the country's SMR projects.
In addition, Britain also plans to build deep-level disposal facilities for nuclear waste treatment. "This work may take decades, and it will pose a huge technical and economic challenge, but it is very important for the future generation." Lee McDonough said.
The United States is writing about industry chain innovation. At present, more than 50% of nuclear power plants in the world are based on the technology of Westinghouse, the company's vice president Jim Blaine attributed it to "continuous innovation"-"continuous product upgrades allow us to maintain our current commercial scale, and Into the future. "
Westinghouse not only has the opportunity to develop new nuclear power projects worldwide, but also improves the operating performance of power plants by upgrading advanced systems, developing software to improve fuel monitoring, and doing a lot of work in decommissioning and waste management. A lot of innovations have been made from the design to the final decommissioning management. "Because we want to develop nuclear energy, it can only be done through this sustainable development." Jim Blaine said.
As the world's largest energy project, it is also a multi-national scientific and technological cooperation project. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, which represents the future development trend of nuclear energy, is currently progressing smoothly. According to ITER Director-General Bernard Bige, they are currently constructing the largest Tokmak installation, the first major components have been installed, the largest purchase of superconductors has been completed, 15 major parts have arrived at the site, and 30 parts will arrive by the end of this year, and 90% of physical purchases have been signed.
The development of nuclear power in China is also remarkable. The domestic demonstration project of the independent third-generation nuclear power "Hualong No.1" is progressing smoothly. The first overseas unit has also realized FCD, and the continuous innovation of Hualong technology has been achieved through engineering inspection and project pull. In addition, the fourth-generation nuclear power technology high-temperature gas-cooled reactor demonstration project with China's independent intellectual property rights is expected to be put into production in 2017.
However, in the face of the current state of contention for nuclear power technology innovation, a voice has bounced back. Ma Shilu, executive vice president of EDF, believes that technological innovation is good, but over-emphasis on the advanced nature of technology will increase costs and cause great difficulties for operators and builders. He hopes that the industry recognizes that operators and suppliers must maintain good contact and communication, so that they can feed back their operating experience to engineering design and equipment manufacturing. EDF has been collecting operating experience for decades, which is why France's nuclear safety performance is good. He also provided another idea for the development of nuclear energy-first determine the type of reactor, as long as the industry ascertains several good technologies, and these technologies should be designed by operators and operators. We need to increase experience exchanges and strengthen cooperation to achieve the best technology.
The "cold encounter" under the heat
Plutonium is faced with many challenges while it vigorously develops and achieves nuclear power globally.
Among them, financing is the biggest challenge. Several guests mentioned in the report that no matter which nuclear power market in the world is affected by financing.
The Paris Climate Conference at the end of 2015 reached an agreement to control the global temperature increase at the end of the century to within 2 degrees Celsius. More than 180 countries and regions have responded positively and made emission reduction commitments. This is a good development opportunity for nuclear power that helps reduce emissions. Edward McKinnis, assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy, said, "To achieve the goal, the total amount of nuclear power must be tripled."
In order to realize their international obligations and achieve energy transition and emission reduction goals, countries need funding to develop nuclear power. Especially in developing countries, 100 billion US dollars will be needed every year by 2020.
George Spitonic, former chairman of the Latin American Branch of the American Nuclear Society and chairman of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, said that the Paris Climate Conference did not include it in a system that could be financed. This is not the first time that nuclear power has encountered a "cold deal" in financing. In the previous "Kyoto Protocol", there were two Clean Development Mechanisms, which also did not finance nuclear power.
In addition, the economics of nuclear power have to be tested by the market. Nuclear energy has outstanding environmental benefits, but it still faces considerable economic challenges. In order to really play the role of nuclear energy in the future, it must improve its competitiveness in low-carbon energy. As Lee McDonough clearly stated, "We do not develop nuclear power at any cost. Nuclear power projects must create value and have a competitive advantage in cost."
At the same time, the public acceptance of nuclear power is also an inevitable topic. The public's attitude towards nuclear power still largely determines or affects the progress of the project. Taking Malaysia's emerging nuclear power market as an example, the country has formulated a new economic development model, decided to vigorously develop nuclear power, and formulated a more detailed plan, but now has to suspend the site selection of nuclear power plants because the government must first do public communication work.
Breakout lies in cooperation
How to respond to these challenges is related to the future development of nuclear energy. In the development of nuclear power, the guests all mentioned cooperation.
he latest forecast from the International Energy Agency indicates that the global nuclear power installation scale will need to reach about 654 million kilowatts in 2030. Considering the decommissioning alternative capacity, it is equivalent to the need to put into operation about 300 new million-kilowatt nuclear power units in 15 years. Global development requires nuclear energy. This is the responsibility of the nuclear energy community and an opportunity to deepen cooperation.
Speaking of cooperation, the view that "China is the center of nuclear power in the world today" became the consensus among the guests. "China plays a very important role in the world, especially in civil nuclear energy." "China has become an important member of the ITER family." "Thank China for its role on the international nuclear energy stage." From these voices It can be seen that China's position in the nuclear energy field is becoming increasingly important.
According to the World Nuclear Association, more than 40% of the world's new nuclear power market will be in China. Therefore, working together with China to share experiences and lessons is the vision of many countries. Ma Shilu pointed out that Chinese operators will soon become the world's largest operating team. He called for operational exchanges with China. Preston Schwaf has made it clear that Canada very much wants to participate in the development process of China's closed cycle of nuclear fuel, and to develop and use plutonium resources with China.
China has responded positively to the cooperation signals released by many countries. At present, China has launched comprehensive cooperation with nuclear powers such as the United States, Russia, and France in terms of projects, research and development, and production capacity. It has signed comprehensive nuclear energy cooperation agreements with French power companies and Areva. Cooperation is actively progressing; cooperating with the United Kingdom to build a nuclear energy research and innovation center; also carrying out traveling wave reactor cooperation with the United States Tyra Energy Company and nuclear power capacity cooperation with Westinghouse; cooperating with Russia in fast reactors and other fields, and actively participating International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project ...
I believe that through this Pacific Nuclear Energy Conference, the cooperation and exchanges between China and other countries in the world will be further strengthened and have a positive effect. (Wen Wang Linyan Ying Hu Gang)