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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2018) | Viewed by 36371

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Michael I. Ojovan

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Guest Editor

Department of Materials, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Interests: amorphous and crystalline materials; glass transition; vitrification; nuclear waste management; immobilisation; radiation effects
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Shuliang Zou

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Guest Editor

Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Emergency Safety Technology and Equipment for Nuclear Facilities, University of South China, China
Interests: nuclear safety engineering and management; nuclear emergency technology and equipment; nuclear facility decommissioning treatment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nuclear energy is clean, reliable and competitive with many peaceful applications, among which the most important application is in power generation, where it is gradually replacing fossil fuels and aims to avoid massive pollution of environment and irreversible climate changes. This Special Issue aims to analyze state-of-the-art aspects of nuclear safety, emergency and security, and will comprise selected papers presented at International Conference on Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Emergency and Nuclear Security—Nuclear Energy Knowledge Management of the BRICS Countries held on Hengyang City, Hunan Province, China, 3–6 December 2017. This conference was held as a global conference for theory, technologies and communication methods related to nuclear safety, emergency and security, and involved experts conducting academic investigations on nuclear energy knowledge management. Papers presented at this conference are invited for submission in this dedicated Special Issue of Sustainability titled “Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology”. Papers selected for this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer review procedure with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination.

Prof. Dr. Michael I. Ojovan
Prof. Dr. Shuliang Zou
Guest Editors

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Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

Nuclear energy
Nuclear emergency management
Nuclear safety technology
Radiation protection technology
Nuclear energy knowledge management
Nuclear safety
Nuclear emergency
Nuclear security

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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14 pages, 271 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Theoretical Guidance on Evacuation Decisions after a Big Nuclear Accident under the Assumption That Evacuation Is Desirable

by Yaling Deng, Shuliang Zou and Daming You

Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3095; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093095 - 30 Aug 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2784

Abstract

The development of nuclear power is a major measure for implementing energy-saving and emission reduction strategies all over the world. For a long time, the hazards of nuclear accidents have been obstacles to the development of nuclear power. Temporary evacuation is the fastest and most effective emergency measure to ensure the safety of residents in a short period of time after a nuclear accident. Numerous nuclear accident emergency management personnel make judgments based on personal work experience and subjective awareness when formulating a nuclear accident emergency evacuation plan. How to make a scientific and reasonable decision on the emergency evacuation of nuclear accidents in the shortest time is a common problem faced by many emergency departments when a nuclear accident occurs. In a complex and ever-changing radiation environment, how to maximize the use of limited information and make decisions quickly in an uncertain environment is a core issue that effectively reduces the risk of nuclear accidents. This paper constructs a set of assessment system of nuclear accident emergency evacuation plan selection based on the characteristics of nuclear accident emergencies under uncertain environmental conditions. It uses triangular fuzzy language to describe nuclear accident emergency evacuation decision plans and the weighting of relevant factors. Additionally, the K-means clustering method is used to calculate the weight of experts, which reduces the influence of subjective factors considered by decision makers. Finally, a decision model for emergency evacuation of nuclear accidents is constructed based on the TOPSIS decision model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

9 pages, 1494 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Ultrasonic Treatment on Radon Exhalation from Porous Media: An Experimental Case Study

by Ling-feng Xie, Shu-liang Zou, Xiang-yang Li, Chang-shou Hong, Hong Wang, Zi-qi Cai, Ming Li, Shuai Zhang and Jing-fan Yuan

Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3005; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093005 - 24 Aug 2018

Viewed by 2749

Abstract

Radon is internationally recognized as one of the seven seismic precursors. A self-assembly ultrasonic generator and experimental apparatus for radon measurement were utilized to explore the radon exhalation regularities of water-bearing porous media under different ultrasonic intensities. The experimental results showed that there was a coupling relationship among radon exhalation rate, moisture content, and ultrasonic frequency. With the increase of the frequency of the ultrasonic wave, its effect on the promotion of radon exhalation rate was found to be a more obviously positive linear correlation. The radon exhalation rate, which could climb to a maximum value of 0.179 Bq·m⁻²·s⁻¹ in a naturally air-dried sample, increased at first and then decreased along with increased moisture content. Moreover, this study found that the ultrasonic wave had the most remarkable promoting effects on the radon exhalation rate of porous media with high moisture content, and there is a positive linear correlation between the growth rate of the radon exhalation rate and moisture content. The experimental results could provide a beneficial reference for the continual monitoring of radon in a seismically active belt and an explanation of radon anomalies; however, the proposed experimental model was simplified, so further insights are strictly required for a reliable correlation with the real monitoring of radon in a seismically active belt. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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13 pages, 6077 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Laboratory Experimental Laws for the Radon Exhalation of Similar Uranium Samples with Low-Frequency Vibrations

by Zi-qi Cai, Xiang-yang Li, Bo Lei, Jing-fan Yuan, Chang-shou Hong and Hong Wang

Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2937; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082937 - 18 Aug 2018

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3932

Abstract

It is the fact that there are lots of hazard incidents in underground uranium mines caused by radon but in-suit uranium samples were difficult to collect. Based on closed chamber method, three similar samples in different sealed ways were made in a laboratory with different material rations, namely uranium tailings, quartz sand, cement, iron powder and silicon powder to measure the radon concentrations with and without low-frequency vibrations, which was used by the experimental device for low-frequency vibration diffusion of radon. The results showed that the radon exhalation coming from the similar samples was influenced by the low frequency vibration; the results are presented as two-stage variations compared with the blank group. The radon exhalation increased with the rising vibration frequency when the frequency was 50 to 70 Hz, but fell slowly after reaching the peak radon exhalation rate. Analyses of the relations between the rock damage degree, changes in porosity and the occurrence of an inflection point in the radon exhalation rate in the samples found that they also increased when the frequency was between 0 to 80 in sample 3. The maximum porosity of the third samples was about 4.8% with a low-frequency vibration 60 Hz, while the maximum damage degree was about 0.07 at 50 Hz. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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12 pages, 2057 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Anticoincidence Technology to Burn-Up Measurement Systems in High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors

by Cui Mao, Yi-Bao Liu and Li-Guo Zhang

Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2883; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082883 - 14 Aug 2018

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3202

Abstract

Nuclear energy is the focus of sustainable energy development worldwide. A high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) plays a vital role in the development of nuclear energy. In a pebble-bed HTGR, the burn-up measurement system is important for ensuring reactor safety and economy. This study optimized a burn-up measurement system by adding anticoincidence technology with bismuth germanium oxide (BGO) crystals and a plastic scintillator used as anticoincidence detectors. Through Monte Carlo simulation, the detection effects of two different anticoincidence detectors on fuel elements were compared and analyzed. The study focused on varying the wall thickness and top thickness of these detectors to optimize the peak-to-Compton ratio (P/C). The results showed that the size of the BGO detector with the best anticoincidence effect (P/C of 727) consists in a diameter of 140 mm and a length of 210 mm. The best plastic scintillator size (P/C of 180) consists in a diameter of 260 mm and a length of 260 mm. Adding the anticoincidence technology lowered the Compton plateau of the measured gamma spectrum and significantly improved the detection performance of the burn-up measurement system. The new burn-up measurement system has improved detection precision not only for Cs-137 but also for low-activity nuclides. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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7 pages, 2481 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Optimization of Emergency Evacuation from Nuclear Accidents in China

by Yang Zou, Shuliang Zou and Changming Niu

Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2737; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082737 - 3 Aug 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3296

Abstract

An emergency evacuation route is an important component of emergency rescue of for nuclear accidents. A reasonable evacuation route can reduce evacuation times and protect people’s life. The evacuation route of the nuclear power plant is abstracted into a network diagram and a mathematical model of evacuation optimization route based on the graph theory and the parity of spot diagram method in this paper. Road traffic capacity and other external factors that may affect emergency evacuation are considered in the time weight factor for each road. Finally, an example is given to verify the feasibility of the model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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9 pages, 1784 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Loss of Offsite Power Events at China’s Nuclear Power Plants

by Feng Jiao, Shanshan Ding, Juan Li, Lixin Zheng, Qinghua Zhang, Zhi Xiao and Jie Zhou

Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2680; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082680 - 31 Jul 2018

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3369

Abstract

The function of the electric power system of nuclear power plants (NPPs) is to provide safe and reliable electricity for the equipment both in normal operation and accident conditions, and to provide emergency power for nuclear safety-related systems to maintain the safety of NPPs. Station blackout (SBO) occurs when loss of offsite power (LOOP) happens concurrently with unavailability of the onsite emergency alternating current (ac) power. LOOP is a precursor of SBO which rarely occurs but contributes significantly to reactor core damage frequency (CDF). Collecting and analyzing all LOOP events in NPPs of China from 1993 to 2017, this paper summarizes the common features of the LOOP events, and identifies the weaknesses and lessons learned from these events. Conclusions and experience feedback suggestions are put forward for improving the reliability of the offsite power supply of NPPs in China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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8 pages, 3836 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical and Experimental Study of Thermal Stratification Outside a Small SMR Containment Vessel

by Gasim Albadawi, Shengfei Wang and Xingdi Cao

Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2332; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072332 - 5 Jul 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3538

Abstract

A Small Modular Reactor’s (SMR) containment vessel (CNV) is submerged in the reactor cooling pool, which supplies a passive heat sink for containment to remove heat during Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA). The heat transfer efficiency of passive safety systems is affected by thermal stratification processes. This study aims to explain the phenomenon of thermal stratification in SMR’s reactor pool. A small scaled containment vessel with an electric heater inside immersed in a pool of water was used to simulate this phenomenon. The results show how the thermal stratification formed. Moreover, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was built using ANSYS FLUENT. Experimental data were compared with simulation results, and the standard k-ε model was found to be suitable for calculating thermal stratification in the pool outside the containment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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12 pages, 2217 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Regional Delta-Tracking Method for Neutron Transport Tracking in Monte Carlo Criticality Calculation

by Qian Guo and Zhenping Chen

Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2272; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072272 - 2 Jul 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3120

Abstract

The Monte Carlo method has been widely used as a standard method to perform neutron transport simulations in reactor physics. In conventional Monte Carlo codes corresponding to the neutron transport tracking with ray-tracing method, the distances to material boundaries must be computed frequently when the neutron changes its kinetic energy or moving into new material regions to determine the neutron transport length. However, if the neutron’s mean free path length, to some extent, is greater than the macro size of the model, a huge amount of distances need to be computed. As a result, the computational efficiency of the neutron transport tracking will be degraded. An improved multi-regional delta-tracking method based on domain decomposition was introduced to solve this problem, in which the original heterogeneous model would be decomposed into many sub-regions and each sub-region was tracked using a local delta-tracking method. Consequently, the computational efficiency of the neutron transport tracking can be improved theoretically without the unnecessary distance calculations. The improved multi-regional delta-tracking method was incorporated into the MOSRT system, which is a multi-objective modeling and simulation platform for radiation transport system. Finally, the method was validated using the criticality benchmarks and its accuracy and efficiency were demonstrated in Monte Carlo criticality calculation. The results indicated that the new method was consistent with the conventional methods, but with a more competitive run-time performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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12 pages, 210 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Legislative Study on China’s Compensation for Nuclear Damage Liability

by Jiu Liu, Bingyu Liu and Dantao Chen

Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2222; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072222 - 28 Jun 2018

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3284

Abstract

The civil nuclear industry plays an important role in improving environmental quality and safeguarding energy security in China. Nevertheless, the industry is facing a huge risk of nuclear accident damage. The legal system of nuclear damage compensation is of vital importance for the industry to address potential risks. The Nuclear Safety Law, which has recently been published in China, stipulates two articles about nuclear damage compensation in principle. However, in general, the current nuclear damage compensation legal system in China has not yet been made systematic and there are still problems, such as a lack of maneuverability and details. This paper adopts qualitative and quantitative methodologies to summarize and analyze the current legislation and regulation pertaining to civil nuclear damage compensation liability in China and analyzes the shortages and deficiencies of these rules in detail by using legal analysis methods. Suggestions to establish and perfect China’s legal system of nuclear damage compensation are proposed to safeguard the healthy development of the civil nuclear industry and remedy damages brought about by nuclear accidents. Such a legal system should contain the elements of clear legislative goals and objectives, a specific definition and scope of nuclear damage, strict and sole responsibility principles for operators, an appropriate liability amount, a stable financial guarantee for operators, and national supplementary liability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

10 pages, 1845 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on the Availability of 4T-APS as a Video Monitor and Radiation Detector in Nuclear Accidents

by Shoulong Xu, Shuliang Zou, Yongchao Han and Yantao Qu

Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2172; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072172 - 26 Jun 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3231

Abstract

In this paper, we present the availability of an active pixel sensor (APS) with four transistors (4T) as a video monitor and radiation detector. Analyzing radiation damage must be one of the first steps in recovering from nuclear accidents, and the radiation response characteristic is the basis for the use of 4T-APS to detect radiation. The goal of this work is to suggest the use of cameras with 4T-APS in widely distributed irradiation detectors. The total ionizing dose (TID) of radiation damage on 4T-APS provided a threshold. Radiation tolerance was improved with the help of a radiation shielding structure. The radiation response showed integration time dependence and pixel information dependence, and greater radiation response was observed from the pixels with lower grayscale values. Two methods are suggested based on different monitoring scenes. This study can help to greatly improve nuclear accident emergency response and the safety of nuclear facilities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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11 pages, 641 KiB

Open AccessConference Report

A Survey and Analysis on the Sense of Nuclear Safety & Security for the Public: A Chinese Perspective

by Ye Yan and Fanghua Lu

Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2495; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072495 - 17 Jul 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2892

Abstract

With the new round of global nuclear issues, the populace’s emotion has been tensed and discomposure has been trigged off. To accurately understand the sense of nuclear safety & security for the Chinese public and ensure that the government makes reasonable decisions regarding nuclear issues, a special questionnaire and evaluation has been carried out. With the use of the principles for sociology of security, the methods of questionnaires and SPSS, a three-dimension assessment system, which consists of knowledge and experience, internal, and external trust, and the way of perception, was constructed. This research shows that the state of Chinese populace’s sense of nuclear safety & security is generally as follows: their knowledge of nuclear safety & security and personal experience are still on a low to intermediate level; In terms of trust, it shows that the populace has lack of adequate trust in nuclear safety & security of neighboring countries or regions, as well as Chinese government’s countermeasures; in the way of perception of nuclear safety & security, the populace has few options of related information sources and though the sources are less reliable. Also, the size of the audience of nuclear safety & security is far short of what is desired. Finally, the comprehensive assessment holds that the current overall sense of security for the Chinese populace is on a low to intermediate level (40.71%). This paper points out that China should strengthen the popularization of the security of nuclear science to enhance public security confidence, also, further, more detailed and specific safeguarding measures regarding nuclear safety & security should be made to promote the development of nuclear safety & security affairs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nuclear Safety, Emergency, Security: Theory and Technology)

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