Carbon free energy development and the role of small modular reactors: A review and decision framework for deployment in developing countries

Abstract

Global energy demand is projected to continue to grow over the next two decades, especially in developing economies. An emerging energy technology with distinct advantages for growing economies is small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). Their smaller size makes them suitable for areas with limited grid capacities and dispersed populations while enabling flexibility in generating capacity and fuel sources. They have

An overview of low‐temperature plasma surface modification of carbon materials for removal of pollutants from liquid and gas phases

“…[36,37] Carbon nanomaterials have some unique properties, such as strong physical/chemical stability, excellent electronic properties, limiting effects, and developed pore structure, resulting in applications of depollution. [38][39][40][41][42][43][44] Because of these excellent properties, carbon nanomaterials (such as graphene, CNTs, fullerene, CDs etc.) are also used as photocatalysts or adsorbents to reduce pollutants.…”

Perspective on Site Selection of Small Modular Reactors

“…Several possible applications of SMRs are demonstrated by many researchers. Basically, an SMR from 150 to 300 MWe can be implemented for on-and off-grid power generation to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, and a smaller one (from 10 to 50 MWe) is capable of providing heat and power for heavy industry such as resource extraction (Black et al, 2015;Carless et al, 2016;Vä rri and Syri, 2019). To be specific, due to the potential for facilitating carbon reduction, SMRs have been recognized as an emerging source to provide small-scale highreliability power which can help many regions, especially developing counties, to meet the growing demand for carbon-free energy and promote sustainable economic growth (Terrapon Pfaff et al, 2014).…”

“…Compared with NPPs, small modular reactors (SMRs) are considered safer, more cost effective, and more flexible, requireing smaller capital input and having shorter construction periods (Vujić et al, 2012). Specifically, SMRs (1) have smaller generation capacities that can better fit for smaller electricity grids and facilitate gradual connection to the grids (Locatelli and Mancini, 2012;Black et al, 2015); (2) require lower upfront capital costs, which can reduce financial risks and would be attractive to private investors even without government intervention (Spencer and Loris, 2011); (3) are factory fabrication which makes the transportation and assembly much easier and can shorten the on-site construction periods (Devanand et al, 2019); (4) have enhanced safety features that make the safe nuclear power technology even safer (Vujić et al, 2012;Buchholz et al, 2015;Butt et al, 2016). There are a number of benefits by developing SMRs.…”

HTR-Based Power Plants’ Performance Analysis Applied on Conventional Combined Cycles

“…In [3] the high temperature gas-cooled reactor development in China is briefly described. The References [6,7] show that Modular High Temperature Reactor (Modular HTR) is one of the most effective solutions to the problem of unstable supply of the fossil resources and the aggravation of the global environment. The authors of [8] are working on a program consisting in the design of a helium based gas cooled GT-MHR plant and R&D on a closed-cycle helium gas turbine system for the existing GT-MHR designed to operate with an outlet coolant temperature of 1123 K. In [9] a time-dependent reliability evaluation of a two-loop passive decay heat removal (DHR) system was performed as part of the interactive design process for a helium-cooled fast reactor.…”