Provisions for effective resource utilization, waste management, and minimum adverse environmental impacts

Provisions for effective resource utilization, waste management, and minimum adverse environmental impacts 

A reduction of carbon emissions is one of the important incentives for future development of nuclear power [5], By offering cogeneration options with flexible or multiple non-electric applications, many innovative SMRs could help minimize not only the emissions associated with electricity generation but also those arising from the heat and motive power production by fossil fuel combustion. 

Energy conversion efficiency is an important factor that defines the specific (i.e. per unit of the useful energy produced) values of the resource consumption, emissions and discharges. These values are inversely proportional to the efficiency, so that, for example, gas cooled SMRs with direct Brayton power cycles (energy conversion efficiency -50%) may offer a substantial reduction in the discharged (rejected) heat when compared to present day LWRs (energy conversion efficiency -32%). Heat discharges could also be minimized by purposeful use of the rejected heat (see Annex XV). 

Effective resource utilization may be a matter of many factors, such as material intensity of the reactor design, neutron economy, fuel burn-up, power density, energy conversion efficiency and, last but not least, the recycling. 

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