Sustainableby Y. Sokolov and R. Beatty

AssessmentNuclear tools developed by the IAEA assist Member Energy States in strategic planning and decision making on sustainable nuclear energy development and deployment.

ong-range and strategic planning for energy systems must be assessed holistically, i.e., from all system evolution and the potential role of possible angles of sustainable development, which Ln u c l ea r e n e rg y t h e re i n re q u i re s a s o u n d u n d e r- includes three interdependent and mutually rein- standing of the dynamics of technology change and forcing pillars: social development, economic devel- innovation. Careful consideration of energy related opment and environmental protection, all linked by infrastructures, social preferences, economic devel- effective government institutions. opment directions and environmental constraints must be part of national nuclear energy deploy- ment. Nuclear Energy System Assessment (NESA) is Nuclear Energy System an integral part of national nuclear power develop- ment along with energy planning and nuclear infra- Assessment using the INPRO structure development using the IAEA ‘Milestones’ Methodology approach for first nuclear power plants. In particu- lar, adopting a nuclear power programme has inter- To assist Member States in assessing their long range generational implications and obligations extend- strategic planning for existing or future nuclear ing well beyond 100 years. energy systems, the IAEA’s International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) Energy planning aims at ensuring that decisions on developed the ’INPRO Methodology’ with contribu- energy demand and supply infrastructures involve tions from 300 international experts including some all stakeholders, consider all possible energy supply from the Generation IV International Forum (GIF). and demand side options, and are consistent with The Nuclear Energy System Assessment is a holis- overall goals of national sustainable development. tic approach that uses this internationally validated The decision that nuclear energy will be part of a tool — the INPRO methodology — to support long- diverse energy mix should include reactor technol- term planning and strategic decision making on ogy selection, infrastructure development required nuclear energy development and deployment in for first plants, and an understanding of the entire Member States. range of impacts and considerations related to deploying a sustainable nuclear energy system. This A prerequisite for a NESA is an energy planning study must include innovations in nuclear technology in case of newcomers — or a national energy strat- and institutional arrangements that contribute to, egy for countries with a mature nuclear power pro- and are caused by, global evolution. gramme — that defines the potential role of nuclear in a mix of energy supply at the national level, how- A nuclear energy system encompasses the com- ever with due regard to regional and global trends. plete spectrum of the nuclear fuel cycle, i.e. from IAEA energy planning models assist energy plan- mining to final end states for all wastes, and associ- ners in undertaking such studies. National author- ated institutional arrangements. Nuclear energy sys- ities in charge of energy policy or nuclear energy tems are characterized by complex infrastructures system planning can initiate a full assessment or a and long life, easily extending over several genera- scoping NESA. tions. In addition, developing or expanding nuclear energy requires extensive lead times and resources, A NESA with the INPRO methodology evaluates especially for the design and commercialization of all nuclear facilities in a given nuclear energy sys- new and innovative components. Nuclear energy tem, from mining through to final end states for all

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INPRO: A Partnership for Dialogue and Innovation he IAEA’s International Project on Innovative IAEA Member States and recognized international TNuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) plays organizations can become members of INPRO an impor tant role in understanding the future devel- provided they make a contribution to the project. opment of nuclear energy systems from a national, Contributions can be in the form of donating extra- regional and global perspective, and innovations in budgetary funds, providing cost-free experts, per- technologies and institutional arrangements in sup- forming assessment studies using the INPRO meth- port of this development. odology or participating in INPRO collaborative projects. Established as a commitment of IAEA Member States to help ensure that nuclear energy is avail- Since its establishment in 2001, membership in able to contribute to meeting the energy needs INPRO has grown to 31 members. These countries of the 21st century in a sustainable manner, INPRO represent 75% of the world’s GDP and 65% of the brings together technology holders and users to world population. consider jointly international and national actions that would result in required innovations in nuclear Ten other countries have observer status as they reactors and fuel cycles. consider membership or are participating on a working level. In addition, INPRO is collaborating INPRO provides a forum for discussion and cooper- with other international initiatives including the ation of experts and policy makers from industrial- Generation IV International Forum (GIF) and the ized and developing countries on all aspects of sus- European Sustainable Nuclear Energy Platform tainable nuclear energy planning, development and (SNETP) to ensure good synergy and avoid duplica- deployment. It promotes a mutually beneficial dia- tion of effort. logue between countries with nuclear technology and countries considering these technologies to Funded mainly by extra-budgetary contributions, develop new nuclear energy capacity. It also offers the project now benefits from a recent commit- Member States support in national strategic plan- ment of the Russian Federation to provide resources ning and decision making on nuclear energy devel- for five years; this has added stability to the project opment and deployment, and enhances awareness and allows longer term planning. Recently, INPRO of technology innovation options for the future. activities were consolidated into five main areas which also form the basis of the project’s action plan for 2010 and 2011. Twelve collaborative projects sup-

wastes including permanent disposal of high-level to confirm that it is sustainable and that it has the waste, and all related institutional measures. It con- correct balance of nuclear facilities; siders the complete lifecycle of nuclear facilities (‘cradle to grave’), i.e. design, construction, opera- ❷ Experienced nuclear technology users, to tion and decommissioning, and evaluates a nuclear increase the awareness of key stakeholders and system in the seven areas identified by the meth- assist with strategic planning and decision making odology developers, which together encompass concerning the expansion of their nuclear energy the dimensions of sustainable development: eco- system; nomics, infrastructure (institutional arrangements), waste management, proliferation resistance, phys- ❸ Prospective first time technology users, to iden- ical protection, environment (impact of stressors, tify issues that need to be considered when deciding and resource depletion), and safety of reactors and the step by step development of a nuclear energy of nuclear fuel cycle facilities. system, i.e. developing the necessary nuclear infra- structure and building a first nuclear power plant. Countries with established nuclear programmes, as well as nuclear ‘newcomers’ who are considering embarking on new nuclear programmes can con- National Assessments duct a NESA to identify possible gaps in their nuclear programme and associated actions to fill the gaps. Recently, several countries performed a series of This is targeted at: national NESAs: Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, India, Republic of Korea, and Ukraine. In addition, eight ❶ Nuclear technology developers, to assess their countries, i.e. Canada, China, France, India, Japan, long-term development and deployment strategy Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and Ukraine,

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port the activities with active participation of INPRO R&D, which contribute to sustainable nuclear energy, Members. are key activities in this area.

Promotion of Innovations in Institutional INPRO Programme Areas Arrangements In addition to the complete spectrum of the nuclear Nuclear Energy System Assessments (NESAs) fuel cycle, institutional arrangements are also part Using the INPRO Methodology of the nuclear energy system. Such arrangements INPRO recently passed a milestone with the develop- include agreements, treaties, national and interna- ment and application of the INPRO methodology that tional legal frameworks or regimes, and conventions. can help countries assess existing and future nuclear Deploying new reactor designs may require innova- energy systems in a holistic way and supports long- tive approaches to institutional measures, in particular term strategic planning and decision making. After a for non-stationary, small and medium-sized reactors. first series of successful studies, eight additional coun- INPRO fosters collaboration in this area and supports tries have expressed interest in assessing existing or countries in developing and implementing innovative future nuclear energy systems to determine if they arrangements. meet national sustainable development criteria. The INPRO Dialogue Forum Global Vision on Sustainable Nuclear Energy This cross-cutting area aims at fostering the informa- By formulating potential scenarios and harmonizing tion exchange between nuclear technology holders visions for long-term global nuclear development and and technology users to ensure that future technical deployment, INPRO helps newcomers and ‘mature’ and institutional innovations meet the expectations of nuclear countries alike to understand the potential both. of technical innovations and of new institutional and legal approaches for developing and building a sus- INPRO members are Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, tainable nuclear ‘architecture’ in the 21st century, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, the including possible transition scenarios. Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, The Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Morocco, the Promotion of Innovations in Nuclear Netherlands, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Technology South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the Fostering collaboration among INPRO members on United States of America and the European Commission. selected innovative nuclear technologies and related www.iaea.org/INPRO jointly investigated a nuclear energy system con- fuel cycle, where spent PWR fuel is transformed into sisting of sodium cooled fast reactors with a closed new fuel for CANDU reactors. Armenia performed a fuel cycle (see box “Closed Fuel Cycle With Fast NESA primarily to familiarize national decision mak- Reactors”). ers with all issues of the planned nuclear power pro- gramme of replacing the existing reactor by a larger The national NESA studies were conducted by coun- unit around 2025. tries of both technology users and developers and included different scales of assessments. Argentina The Joint Study explored several possible scenarios and Ukraine evaluated the sustainability of their through modelling of how different nuclear tech- planned national nuclear energy systems by assess- nologies could contribute to fulfilling the expanded ing all facilities of the nuclear fuel cycle. Brazil, India role of nuclear energy and what kinds of problems and the Republic of Korea assessed specific reac- and approaches might be considered to allow an tor designs and associated fuel cycles in selected easy transition to a closed nuclear fuel cycle with areas of the INPRO methodology. The Brazil team fast reactors. chose the IRIS reactor design and assessed it in the areas of safety and economics. In addition, the Fixed Bed Nuclear Reactor (FBNR) design was assessed INPRO methodology for sustainability in the areas of safety and prolifer- ation resistance. The Indian study investigated the The INPRO Methodology is organized in a three- replacement of fossil fuel by hydrogen in the trans- tier hierarchy of Basic Principles, User Requirements portation sector. The prime objective of the Korean and Criteria, consisting of indicators and acceptance study was to develop a qualitative analysis to deter- limits. These elements are used in the seven INPRO mine the level of proliferation resistance of the DUPIC assessment areas. An assessed nuclear energy sys-

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Closed Fuel Cycle with Fast Reactors ver a period of two years, eight countries joined By developing and introducing novel technolo- Oforces to assess a nuclear energy system based gies for an optimal management of nuclear fission on a closed fuel cycle with fast reactors (CNFC-FR) products and minor actinides, the CNFC–FR sys- with the INPRO methodology. The objective of this tem would have the potential for a ‘breakthrough’ in “Joint Study“ was to determine whether a CNFC-FR meeting all of today’s requirements of waste man- would meet criteria of sustainable development, to agement. define milestones for deploying nuclear energy and to establish areas which would require future col- Due to the technological features of the CNFC–FR laborative R&D work. The countries were Canada, system, its proliferation resistance could be compa- China, France, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, rable to, or higher than that of a once-through fuel the Russian Federation, and Ukraine. A near-term cycle. The CNFC–FR system is a key technology for CNFC–FR system based on proven technologies, the balanced use of fissile materials. such as sodium coolant, MOX pellet fuel and aque- ous reprocessing technology was used as a refer- A CNFC–FR system requires a regional or multilateral ence system. approach to front and back end fuel cycle services and the transition to a global nuclear architecture. A general observation was made that an optimized future for nuclear energy deployment may not Since the Joint Study conclusions also called for an be entirely consistent with current national plan- inter-disciplinary approach and international collab- ning. With the goal of making the CNFC-FR a viable orations wherever possible, as a follow-up, several alternative to conventional sources of power, the INPRO collaborative projects were initiated which Joint Study identified some weak points in current address the issues identified: national approaches that must be resolved. This refers specifically to economics and safety, where � Global architecture of nuclear energy systems further research is necessary to achieve a lower level based on thermal and fast reactors including a of risk of severe accidents. closed fuel cycle (GAINS);

The design of currently operating nuclear energy � Integrated approach for the design of safety systems with CNFC–FR may not meet economic grade decay heat removal system for liquid metal competition requirements. Simplifying the design, cooled reactor (DHR); increasing the fuel burn up and reducing costs through targeted R&D, along with small series con- � Assessment of advanced and innovative nuclear structions, could make the costs of nuclear power fuel cycles within large scale nuclear energy systems plants with fast reactors comparable to those of based on CNFC concept to satisfy principles of sus- thermal reactor and fossil fuelled power plants. tainability in the 21st century (FINITE); and

In some countries, the introduction of fast reactors � Investigation of technological challenges might contribute to an efficient use of nuclear fuel related to the removal of heat by liquid metal and resources by increasing the use of plutonium fuels molten salt coolants from reactor cores operating at and denaturated uranium fuel, to be generated in high temperatures (COOL). the fast reactor blankets, if needed.

tem represents a source of energy consistent with An IAEA publication describes how to conduct a a country’s sustainable development criteria, if all NESA using the INPRO methodology: Guidance for principles, requirements and criteria are met. If the the Application of an Assessment Methodology for assessment points to a gap, further R&D studies Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems: INPRO Manual — should be undertaken. Overview of the Methodology (TECDOC 1575 Rev.1).

If not all components are met, a given nuclear energy Yuri Sokolov is IAEA Deputy Director General, system may still make a significant, interim contri- Department of Nuclear Energy, and INPRO Project bution to meeting the energy needs of a country Manager. E-mail: [email protected]. or region, but will need to change and evolve to become sustainable in the longer term. The results Randy Beatty is the INPRO Group Leader at the IAEA. of a NESA can be used to guide this evolution. E-mail: [email protected].

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