Personal Blogs

Generations of nuclear power plants

The term "Generations of nuclear power plants" refers to the technology used in the power plants. As significant technological advancements are made, either in performance, cost or safety, the "generation" of nuclear power plants increase from the previous versions. Generation I nuclear systems, such as the first commercialized power plants of varying design (graphite moderated/ gas cooled, or prototype water cooled and moderated). Generation I was operational before the 1970s and made use of natural uranium, to avoid the need for enrichment. This then lead on to Generation II nuclear systems designs, which were developed since the 1970s and are the standard light-water pressurized and boiling water reactors which are still in use today. Generation III nuclear power plants are an evolution of current light-water reactors with extended design lifetimes and improved performance, as well as better resilience against extreme events such as those associated with core damage. These reactors have been ready for deployment since 2010.

Generation IV are the next generation of power plants currently in research and development stages. These power plants could be deployed for commercial use by 2020-2030. The guiding principles for design in the Generation IV systems are as follows:

·         Sustainability: the systems should offer efficiency in the use of natural resources, minimize environmental impact by minimizing waste.

·         Economically viable: Economic considerations are: the cost to generate, which should be competitive compared to other energy sources. The amount of investment required, which should be at a reasonable enough level to allow it to still be accessible to a large number of countries.

·         Safe and reliable: It is mandatory that all future reactors perform at least as well as existing reactors in terms of reliability and safety. One key focus is on the removal of, as far as possible, the need for public evacuations from areas outside the nuclear sites whatever its cause.

·         Resistant to increasing risks and likely to be easily protected from external attack.

GIF is the “Generation IV International Forum” which is a co-operative international team made up of a number of countries that carry out research and development needed to improve the feasibility and performance capabilities of the next generation of nuclear power systems likely to reach technical maturity by 2030. The ten countries involved currently are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, The republic of Korea, The republic of South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.

Currently there are six different designs have been identified for further development. The selected systems are based on a variety of reactors, energy conversion methods and fuel cycle technologies. The six designs are as follows:

1.        VHTR – Very High Temperature Reactor cooled with helium at 1000°C at the core outlet, for efficient production of hydrogen.

2.        SFR – Sodium Fast Reactor

3.        MSR – Molten Salt Reactor fuelled with molten salts

4.        GFR – Gas-cooled Fast Reactor system cooled with helium

5.         LFR – Lead Fast Reactor cooled with lead or lead-bismuth eutectic

6.        SCWR – Super-Critical Water-cooled Reactor

As part of the safety aspect of the new Generation IV nuclear power systems, something called “Passive nuclear safety” is being looked into heavily. Passive nuclear safety is a safety feature of a nuclear reactor that doesn’t require electronic feedback or operator control to shut down the reactor safely in the event of an emergency. These types of reactors tend to rely more on engineering of components such that their predicted behavior would slow down rather than speed up, the nuclear reaction is the best example of this. This method compares to the older methods of electronics or an operator monitoring the temperature rising in the event of an accelerating reaction and intervening to prevent damage to the reactor.

 References: 

www.euronuclear.org  - European Nuclear Society website - Last updated 07/05/2017

http://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/euratom/index_en.cfm?pg=fission&section=generation  - European Commission – Research & Innovation website - Last updated 11/08/2015

www.gen-4.org    - Gen IV International forum website - Last updated n.d

Things i want to achieve in the long term:

• Financial security for my family
• Happy children
• Own a bigger house with lots of space for the kids
• Become senior engineer/ team leader

Things i want to achieve in the short team:

• a degree through the OU
• achieve a minimum of IEng if not MEng
• Get my children settled in primary school

The positive comments i chose were:

• I did well and am proud of my recent attempt at a planned maintenance on a main station TV site. I had never done this before and the implications if something went wrong would be huge so it was high pressure work. That being said everything went well and i proved to myself i can do things i haven't done before or perhaps i'm not as comfortable with.
  
• I handled well a serious fault I had to deal with at a customer's radio studio. The radio station had been off air and the customer was not happy and in my face about getting it fixed but despite this i managed to maintain my professional attitude and get the fault fixed quickly which pleased the customer and scored some bonus points for my company.
  
• I felt I had achieved something when i completed my OFCOM DAB commissioning course. I felt proud as it was something new and took a lot of studying to pass the course. I also felt good after completing my first commissioning on site as it proved i could put into practice what i had learned whilst training.
  

The negative comments were:

• I couldn’t get to grips with an IP training course i went on recently. I was okay with the basics but then when it got more advanced i struggled to keep up.
  
• I felt frustrated about spending a long time training my apprentice on a certain piece of equipment only to find out a week later he was going on an official training course for it making what we did a waste of time.
  
• I felt I had achieved nothing after spending hours trying to fix a complex fault on a main TV site but nothing was working despite what i did.
  

From my positive comments it seems that i gain satisfaction from a job well done or putting something that i have only learned the theory for in to practical use. 

From my negative comments it seems i get frustrated when i put time and effort in to something that amounts to nothing at the end.

Comparing the two it seems i like to do things right and get frustrated/annoyed when i find something difficult to learn or get to grips with or just ends up being a waste of my time.

I currently work in the telecommunications industry as a broadcast engineer. 

I hope to keep working in this role until i can reach the position of senior engineer and then possibly team leader one day but that is a long way off so i will keep working hard and see how i feel in a few years.

I have re-read my answers for TMA01 and the tutor comments and think i have several problems:

• I do not read the questions properly or enough times to fully understand what is required and therefore drop easy marks.
• I often write from the first person which makes it easy to get casual with my writing.
• I need to write with the appropriate grammar such as do not instead of don't and i will instead of i'll etc.