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Methodologies for Systematic Assessment of Design Simplification. Annex II

Abstract

Nuclear power plants are sophisticated engineered systems. To achieve a commercial nuclear power plant, its functions, systems and components need to be elaborated from design ideas to technical solutions and to the appropriate hardware over a long period of time. On the way, several design alternatives usually compete for implementation in the final plant. Engineering teams perform assessments, comparing different proposed engineering options in order to select an appropriate solution for the specific plant aimed at specific customers. This is a common process in design evolution. During such assessments, the trade-offs associated with different options are not always as simple as seen at very early design stages. Any requirement (e.g. relevant to safety, availability or competitiveness) usually has several dimensions; therefore, a change in the design aimed at producing the targeted effect (e.g. simplification of passive safety systems) as a rule produces other effects not directly related to the original idea. It means that the assessment needs to be carried out in iterations, not to bypass any meaningful feedback. The assessment then becomes a challenge for those designers who are interested in exploring innovative approaches and simplified systems. Unlike in several developed countries, so far, nuclear energy has been only  More>>
Publication Date:
Dec 15, 2013
Product Type:
Book
Resource Relation:
Other Information: 13 figs., 19 tabs., 21 refs.; Related Information: In: Approaches for Assessing the Economic Competitiveness of Small and Medium Sized Reactors| International Atomic Energy Agency, Division of Nuclear Power, Vienna (Austria)| 271 p.
Subject:
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; DESIGN; DEVELOPED COUNTRIES; DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; ECONOMY; ENERGY POLICY; FOSSIL FUELS; GAS TURBINES; NUCLEAR ENERGY; NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION
OSTI ID:
22190183
Research Organizations:
National Atomic Energy Commission (Argentina)
Country of Origin:
IAEA
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Other: ISSN 1995-7807; ISBN 978-92-0-144210-9; TRN: XA14R0016014668
Availability:
Also available on-line: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1619_web.pdf; Enquiries should be addressed to IAEA, Marketing and Sales Unit, Publishing Section, E-mail: sales.publications@iaea.org; Web site: http://www.iaea.org/books
Submitting Site:
INIS
Size:
page(s) 80-113
Announcement Date:
Feb 14, 2014

Citation Formats

None. Methodologies for Systematic Assessment of Design Simplification. Annex II. IAEA: N. p., 2013. Web.
None. Methodologies for Systematic Assessment of Design Simplification. Annex II. IAEA.
None. 2013. "Methodologies for Systematic Assessment of Design Simplification. Annex II." IAEA.
@misc{etde_22190183,
title = {Methodologies for Systematic Assessment of Design Simplification. Annex II}
author = {None}
abstractNote = {Nuclear power plants are sophisticated engineered systems. To achieve a commercial nuclear power plant, its functions, systems and components need to be elaborated from design ideas to technical solutions and to the appropriate hardware over a long period of time. On the way, several design alternatives usually compete for implementation in the final plant. Engineering teams perform assessments, comparing different proposed engineering options in order to select an appropriate solution for the specific plant aimed at specific customers. This is a common process in design evolution. During such assessments, the trade-offs associated with different options are not always as simple as seen at very early design stages. Any requirement (e.g. relevant to safety, availability or competitiveness) usually has several dimensions; therefore, a change in the design aimed at producing the targeted effect (e.g. simplification of passive safety systems) as a rule produces other effects not directly related to the original idea. It means that the assessment needs to be carried out in iterations, not to bypass any meaningful feedback. The assessment then becomes a challenge for those designers who are interested in exploring innovative approaches and simplified systems. Unlike in several developed countries, so far, nuclear energy has been only marginally used in small and medium sized developing countries. One of the important reasons for this has been the lack of competitive commercial nuclear options with small and medium sized reactors (SMRs). Then, the challenge for SMR designers has been to design simpler plants in order to counterbalance the well known penalties of economy of scale. The lack of experience with SMRs in small and medium sized developing countries could be viewed as practical proof of the lack of commercial success of such reactors. Fossil fuelled gas turbine technologies offer very competitive energy options available from tens to hundreds of MW(e), with relatively small changes owing to the size economy. Therefore, the electricity growth in small and medium sized developing countries has been supported mostly by fossil fuels, with only a few exceptions. Such a situation is a challenge for the nuclear stakeholders in small and medium sized developing countries.}
place = {IAEA}
year = {2013}
month = {Dec}
}