ICONE14-89639 INPRO economics

Following a resolution of the General Conference of the IAEA in the year 2000 an International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles, referred to as INPRO, was initiated. INPRO has defined requirements organized in a hierarchy of Basic Principles, User Requirements and Criteria (consisting of an indicator and an acceptance limit) to be met by innovative nuclear reactor systems (INS) in six areas, namely: economics, safety, waste management, environment, proliferation resistance, and infrastructure. If an INS meets all requirements in all areas it represents a sustainable system for the supply of energy, capable of making a significant contribution to meeting the energy needs of the 21st century. Draft manuals have been developed, for each INPRO area, to provide guidance for performing an assessment of whether an INS meets the INPRO requirements in a given area. This paper discusses the example presented in the manual for performing an INPRO assessment in the area of economics. The example considers a private utility, operating in a liberalized market that is planning for an additional supply of power of about 600 MWe within a time frame of 10 years. Two nuclear options, an LWR and a HWR, are considered as well as a gas-fired plant using liquefied gas as fuel. INTRODUCTION The Agency’s International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) was established to help to ensure that nuclear energy is available to contribute, in a sustainable manner, to the energy needs in the 21st century. In six different areas – economics, safety, waste management, proliferation resistance, environment, and infrastructure – requirements to be met by innovative nuclear energy systems (INS) have been identified. As well, a methodology has been developed to assess whether an INS complies with the requirements. On the basis of this assessment, the need for innovations in existing nuclear technology, to be achieved via research, development and demonstration, can be identified. In this paper, a short description of the INPRO methodology in the area of economics and an example illustrating the application of the methodology are presented. INPRO ECONOMIC BASIC PRINCIPLE, USER REQUIREMENTS AND CRITERIA In the area of economics one basic principle has been enunciated by INPRO [1], namely that to contribute to sustainable development: • Energy and related products and services from INSs shall be affordable and available. In total four user requirements are linked to this basic principle, as shown in Table 1 (end of paper). If energy and related products and services are to be affordable the price to the consumer must be competitive with low cost/priced alternatives. If energy and related products and