Download Free Site Selection Characterization Status Report For Next Generation Nuclear Plant Ngnp Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Site Selection Characterization Status Report For Next Generation Nuclear Plant Ngnp and write the review.

In the near future, the US Department of Energy (DOE) will need to make important decisions regarding design and construction of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP). One part of making these decisions is considering the potential environmental impacts that this facility may have, if constructed here at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 provides DOE decision makers with a process to systematically consider potential environmental consequences of agency decisions. In addition, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Title VI, Subtitel C, Section 644) states that the 'Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) shall have licensing and regulatory authority for any reactor authorized under this subtitle.' This stipulates that the NRC will license the NGNP for operation. The NRC NEPA Regulations (10 CFR Part 51) require tha thte NRC prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a permit to construct a nuclear power plant. The applicant is required to submit an Environmental report (ER) to aid the NRC in complying with NEPA.
This report provides an overview of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing process, the preliminary site activities that have taken place in the current fiscal year (FY-06), and the site-related plans for FY-07. The NRC maintains oversight of the construction and operation of a facility throughout its lifetime to assure compliance with the Commission's regulations for the protection of public health and safety, the common defense and security, and the environment. To implement this process, all nuclear power plant applications must undergo a safety review, an environmental review, and antitrust review by the NRC.
The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project is tasked with selecting a high temperature gas reactor technology that will be capable of generating electricity and supplying large amounts of process heat. The NGNP is presently being designed as a helium-cooled high temperature gas reactor (HTGR) with a large graphite core. The graphite baseline characterization project is conducting the research and development (R & D) activities deemed necessary to fully qualify nuclear-grade graphite for use in the NGNP reactor. One of the major fundamental objectives of the project is establishing nonirradiated thermomechanical and thermophysical properties by characterizing lot-to-lot and billet-to-billet variations (for probabilistic baseline data needs) through extensive data collection and statistical analysis. The reactor core will be made up of stacks of graphite moderator blocks. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the varying characteristics in a wide range of suitable graphites, any of which can be classified as "nuclear grade," an experimental program has been initiated to develop an extensive database of the baseline characteristics of numerous candidate graphites. Various factors known to affect the properties of graphite will be investigated, including specimen size, spatial location within a graphite billet, specimen orientation within a billet (either parallel to [P] or transverse to [T] the long axis of the as-produced billet), and billet-to-billet variations within a lot or across different production lots. Because each data point is based on a certain position within a given billet of graphite, particular attention must be paid to the traceability of each specimen and its spatial location and orientation within each billet. The evaluation of these properties is discussed in the Graphite Technology Development Plan (Windes et. al 2007). One of the key components in the evaluation of these graphite types will be mechanical testing of specimens drawn from carefully controlled sections of each billet. This report is confirmation that the test procedures are in place and approved, and that mechanical testing of graphite under the Baseline Graphite Characterization program has commenced.
The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project is tasked with selecting a high temperature gas reactor technology that will be capable of generating electricity and supplying large amounts of process heat. The NGNP is presently being designed as a helium-cooled high temperature gas reactor (HTGR) with a large graphite core. The graphite baseline characterization project is conducting the research and development (R & D) activities deemed necessary to fully qualify nuclear-grade graphite for use in the NGNP reactor. Establishing nonirradiated thermomechanical and thermophysical properties by characterizing lot-to-lot and billet-to-billet variations (for probabilistic baseline data needs) through extensive data collection and statistical analysis is one of the major fundamental objectives of the project. The reactor core will be made up of stacks of graphite moderator blocks. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the varying characteristics in a wide range of suitable graphites, any of which can be classified as "nuclear grade," an experimental program has been initiated to develop an extensive database of the baseline characteristics of numerous candidate graphites. Various factors known to affect the properties of graphite will be investigated, including specimen size, spatial location within a graphite billet, specimen orientation within a billet (either parallel to [P] or transverse to [T] the long axis of the as-produced billet), and billet-to-billet variations within a lot or across different production lots. Because each data point is based on a certain position within a given billet of graphite, particular attention must be paid to the traceability of each specimen and its spatial location and orientation within each billet. The evaluation of these properties is discussed in the Graphite Technology Development Plan (Windes et. al, 2007). One of the key components in the evaluation of these graphite types will be mechanical testing on specimens drawn from carefully controlled sections of each billet. To this end, this report will discuss the machining of the first set of test specimens that will be evaluated in this program through tensile, compressive, and flexural testing. Validation that the test specimens have been produced to the tolerances required by the applicable ASTM standards, and to the quality control levels required by this program, will demonstrate the viability of sending graphite to selected suppliers that will provide valuable and certifiable data to future data sets that are integral to the NGNP program and beyond.
This report documents bounding functional and operating requirements (F & ORs)for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project to support selection of the nuclear system design and specification of the operating conditions and configuration of NGNP once the nuclear system design is selected. These requirements supplement the detailed F & ORs for NGNP developed in the FY07 NGNP Pre-conceptual design work.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting research and development to support the resurgence of nuclear power in the United States for both electrical power generation and production of process heat required for industrial processes such as the manufacture of hydrogen for use as a fuel in automobiles. The project is called the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project, which is based on a Generation IV reactor concept called the very high temperature reactor (VHTR). The VHTR will be of the prismatic or pebble bed type; the former is considered herein. The VHTR will use helium as the coolant at temperatures ranging from 250°C to perhaps 1000°C. While computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has not previously been used for the safety analysis of nuclear reactors in the United States, it is being considered for existing and future reactors. It is fully recognized that CFD simulation codes will have to be validated for flow physics reasonably close to actual fluid dynamic conditions expected in normal operational and accident situations. The "Standard Problem" is an experimental data set that represents an important physical phenomenon or phenomena, whose selection is based on a phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) for the reactor in question. It will be necessary to build a database that contains a number of standard problems for use to validate CFD and systems analysis codes for the many physical problems that will need to be analyzed. The first two standard problems that have been developed for CFD validation consider flow in the lower plenum of the VHTR and bypass flow in the prismatic core. Both involve scaled models built from quartz and designed to be installed in the INL's matched index of refraction (MIR) test facility. The MIR facility employs mineral oil as the working fluid at a constant temperature. At this temperature, the index of refraction of the mineral oil is the same as that of the quartz. This provides an advantage to the optics used for data gathering. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to take the data. The first standard problem represents several flow physics expected to be present in the lower plenum of the prismatic VHTR. In the lower plenum, heated helium coolant in the form of jets issues downward into the plenum and is then forced to turn ninety degrees and flow toward the exit duct. The lower plenum is filled with cylindrical graphite posts that hold up the core. Figure S-1 provides a plan view of the lower plenum. The red circles represent support posts holding up columns of heated blocks. Grey circles represent support posts under columns of reflector blocks. Helium enters the lower plenum at the junctions of the hexagonal blocks.
The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project initiated at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) by the U.S. Department of Energy pursuant to the 2005 Energy Policy Act, is based on research and development activities supported by the Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Initiative. The principal objective of the NGNP Project is to support commercialization of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology. The HTGR is a helium-cooled and graphite-moderated reactor that can operate at temperatures much higher than those of conventional light water reactor (LWR) technologies. Accordingly, it can be applied in many industrial applications as a substitute for burning fossil fuels, such as natural gas, to generate process heat in addition to producing electricity, which is the principal application of current LWRs. Nuclear energy in the form of LWRs has been used in the U.S. and internationally principally for the generation of electricity. However, because the HTGR operates at higher temperatures than LWRs, it can be used to displace the use of fossil fuels in many industrial applications. It also provides a carbon emission-free energy supply. For example, the energy needs for the recovery and refining of petroleum, for the petrochemical industry and for production of transportation fuels and feedstocks using coal conversion processes require process heat provided at temperatures approaching 800 C. This temperature range is readily achieved by the HTGR technology. This report summarizes a site assessment authorized by INL under the NGNP Project to determine hazards and potential challenges that site owners and HTGR designers need to be aware of when developing the HTGR design for co-location at industrial facilities, and to evaluate the site for suitability considering certain site characteristics. The objectives of the NGNP site hazard assessments are to do an initial screening of representative sites in order to identify potential challenges and restraints to be addressed in design and licensing processes; assure the HTGR technology can be deployed at variety of sites for a range of applications; evaluate potential sites for potential hazards and describe some of the actions necessary to mitigate impacts of hazards; and, provide key insights that can inform the plant design process. The report presents a summary of the process methodology and the results of an assessment of hazards typical of a class of candidate sites for the potential deployment of HTGR reactor technology. The assessment considered health and safety, and other important siting characteristics to determine the potential impact of identified hazards and potential challenges presented by the location for this technology. A four reactor module nuclear plant (2000 to 2400 MW thermal), that co-generates steam, electricity for general use in the plant, and hot gas for use in a nearby chemical processing facility, to provide the requisite performance and reliability was assumed for the assessment.