Zirconium-based alloys have served the nuclear industry for several decades due to their acceptable properties for nuclear cores of light water reactors (LWRs). However, severe accidents in LWRs have directed research and development of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) concepts that aim to improve nuclear fuel safety during normal operation, operational transients and possible accident scenarios. This review introduces the latest results in the development of protective coatings for ATF claddings based on Zr alloys, involving their behavior under normal and accident conditions in LWRs. Great attention has been paid to the protection and oxidation mechanisms of coated claddings, as well as to the mutual interdiffusion between coatings and zirconium alloys. An overview of recent developments in barrier coatings is introduced, and possible barrier layers and structure designs for suppressing mutual diffusion are proposed.
This paper evaluated the economic potential of three different photovoltaic energy technologies at a selected site, Wa, in the Upper West region of Ghana. The cost of energy and net present value metrics were used to ascertain the cost-effectiveness of these technologies (fixed, single and double axis tracker systems). From the analysis, all three technologies are economically viable at the selected site, however, a sensitivity analysis shows that the fixed axis tracker is unviable at a discount rate above 2 % whiles that of the single and double axis power plants also become impracticable at a discount rate above 6 % using the financial input parameters adopted for the study. This is an indication that, even though the selected site may have the required solar radiation for the development of large-scale PV power plant, there is the need to create the necessary conducive financial environment to enable such projects to become viable. The double axis tracking system was identified as the optimum system that should be deployed at the selected site to get the best in terms of affordability of electricity to consumers and equity payback.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.