Aging is terrible. With the growth of age, there are many things you may never be able to do, and it is difficult to keep up with the changes of the times. Nuclear reactors are no exception.
The average service life of nuclear power plant reactors around the world is rising. In the United States, there are more reactors in operation than in any other country, with an average reactor life of 42 years by 2023. Nearly 90% of European reactors have been in operation for 30 years or more.
Due to economic pressure, older reactors, especially smaller ones, have been shut down in large numbers, especially in areas with cheap natural gas and other cheap power sources. But old nuclear reactors can still operate for a long time.
A nuclear power plant in Michigan closed in 2022, but its new boss is now trying to restart it. If the restart is successful, the plant may be able to operate for 80 years (total age).
Some other reactors have had their operating permits extended for 20 years. Extending the life of existing nuclear power plants helps reduce emissions and is often cheaper than building new ones. So, how long do we expect the nuclear power plant to run?
In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) allows nuclear reactors to operate for 40 years. But the operating time of nuclear reactors must be longer than that, as is the case for many power stations.
Patrick White, research director of the nonprofit think tank Nuclear Innovation Alliance, said that the 40 year license is not intended to set an end point for the life of nuclear power plants.
On the contrary, he said that this was to ensure that the power plants could operate for a long enough time to recover the investment used to build them.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted 20 year license extensions to most existing nuclear power plants to enable them to operate for 60 years. Now, some power plant operators are applying for a longer extension.
A few reactors have been approved for operation for 80 years, including two units of Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant in Florida, USA. However, such an extension is not easy to obtain.
Since then, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has withdrawn some approvals and asked previously approved sites to conduct additional environmental reviews using more recent data.
White said that although the longest running reactor in the world is only 54 years old, there are early studies on how to extend its life to 100 years.
The fact is that the components of nuclear power plants have almost no real service life. Equipment such as pumps, valves and heat exchangers in the water cooling system and supporting infrastructure can be maintained, repaired or replaced.
As technology advances, they can even be upgraded to the latest models to help power stations work more efficiently.
Jacobo Buongiorno, professor of nuclear engineering at MIT, said that two main components determine the life of a nuclear power plant: the reactor pressure vessel and the containment.
Reactor pressure vessel is the core of nuclear power plant, including reactor core and related cooling system. The structure must keep the reactor core operating under high temperature and pressure without leakage.
The containment is a shell around a nuclear reactor. It is airtight and will prevent radioactive material from spilling in case of emergency.
These two components are critical to the safe operation of nuclear power plants and are usually too expensive or difficult to replace. So when regulators review applications to extend the life of power plants, they are most concerned about the condition and life of these components, said Boungiono.
At present, researchers are looking for new ways to solve the problem that may shut down some power plants (temporarily). For example, the reactor components of a power plant in Ohio, USA were corroded, which led to the shutdown of the plant for two years.
New methods for monitoring materials in nuclear power plants, as well as new anti degradation materials, can help reactors operate more safely and for longer periods of time.
Extending the service life of nuclear power plants can promote the popularization of clean energy and help the world achieve climate goals.
(Source: generated by AI)
In some places, the shutdown of nuclear power plants may lead to more carbon pollution, because filling this gap requires the reuse of fossil fuels.
In 2021, when New York closed its Indian Point nuclear power plant, the use of natural gas surged, leading to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Germany closed its last nuclear reactor in 2023, and its emissions have dropped to a new historical low, although some experts said that the decline was mainly related to the economic slowdown, rather than the popularity of renewable energy such as wind and solar energy.
According to a report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, extending the life of global nuclear power plants by 10 years will add 26000 TWh of low-carbon power to the power grid in the coming decades.
Together, this is about equal to the current global power demand for one year, which may help to reduce emissions while expanding low-carbon power generation capacity in the world.
Therefore, when we clean the power grid, we may pay more attention to those power stations that have been operating for a long time, including nuclear reactors.
About the author: Casey Crownhart is a climate reporter of MIT Science and Technology Review, focusing on how renewable energy, transportation and technology respond to climate change. She was also a freelance science and environmental journalist, writing for Popular Science, Atlas Obstura and other media. Before engaging in journalism, she was a researcher in materials science.
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Operation/typesetting: He Chenlong
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