Technology Session “Nuclear Power as a Power Source for Decarbonization”

Industry trends of Nuclear Energy
Nuclear Energy can be a potential option to realize the Paris Agreement and initiatives has been taken with afocus on improving safety, reducing both risks and costs.

IssuesDevelopment

Industry trends•

Design, manufacturing,and construction• Transparent andcontinuous politicalsupport• Improving safety• Reducing investment
risks related touncertainty• Improving flexibility• Improving economicefficiency• Technology transfer• Challenging the ratesystem to reduceinvestment risks (RAB inUK, ZEC in the US)• Constructing advanced
reactors in emerging
countries (China, India,UAE, etc.)• Demonstrating nextgeneration reactors suchas SMRs using publicfunds (CFPP in the US)• Developing SMR• Developing Generation IV
reactors

Areas of innovation to focus onOperationand maintenanceDecommissioning
and back-end• Reducing operationaland maintenance costs• Constructing a nuclear
fuel cycle• Extending the life ofexisting reactors andimproving safety• Extending the licenses(SLE in the US, 100-year
license, Grand Carénage
Programme in France,etc.) and improving safety• Reducing O&M costs inresponse to intensifying
competition from otherpower sources (US)• Locating the final disposalsites and co-existing withlocal communities

Technology Session “Nuclear Power as a Power Source for Decarbonization”

Technology trends of Nuclear Energy•

The development of SMRs for new facilities is gaining momentum, whereas for existing facilities, digitaltechnology is being used to improve safety and reduce O&M costs.
Development of SMRs

Safety Improvement and O&M Cost Reduction

IssuesIssues• Responding to safety concerns regarding Nuclear Energy• Dealing with the excessive cost-overrun of newly Installed
Light-water reactors (LWRs)• Integrated operation with rapidly spreading renewableenergyInnovations• The IAEA* has summarized the 55 reactor types of SMRs
being developed worldwide.
• All of them are characterized in terms of safety, economicefficiency, and flexibility.
✓ Safety: Passive safety system (e.g. cooling without thepump)✓ Economic efficiency: Simple design, reducing cost bymodularization, and relatively easy to finance due tosmall-scale✓ Flexibility: Some designs take advantage of the SMRs
to increase operational flexibility. There are also
floating reactors that offer flexibility in location• High-temperature technologies, such as high-temperaturegas reactors are also envisaged for industrial applications
Source: IAEA (2018) "Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology Developments"• Improving competitiveness against renewable energy andexisting energy sources• Reducing operation costs while improving safety

Innovations• Upgrading existing plants through the introduction of digital
instruments, etc., to improve safety and economy at thesame time
• Standardizing business processes for asset management andmaintenance based on RCM (Reliability CenteredMaintenance) using Big data and AI is becoming moreadvanced• Developing Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF), which prevents
severe accidents even in the event of a severe situation suchas the loss of all power sources• Initiatives are also underway to share know-how in thesupply chain