IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v280y2023ics0360544223015633.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why coal-fired power plants should get nuclear-ready

Author

Listed:
  • Haneklaus, Nils
  • Qvist, Staffan
  • Gładysz, Paweł
  • Bartela, Łukasz

Abstract

Nuclear power plant designs are becoming smaller so that the capacity of these small modular reactors (SMRs) is similar to that of coal-fired power units. The need to decarbonize the energy sector will leave infrastructure and workers of retired coal-fired power plants behind. From an environmental point of view coal-fired power plants should neither be built nor operated. If these plants are built/operated though, they should be designed in a way that they can be swiftly transformed to provide low-carbon energy. They should be designed to be nuclear-ready. The idea to transform coal-to-nuclear (C2N) is receiving increased attention. In this Perspective, we argue that akin to an earlier EU directive on carbon capture and storage (CCS) that made CCS readiness assessments necessary to obtain a building permit in the EU, C2N assessments could be provided by utilities of new and operating coal-fired power plants on a voluntary basis today, to maximize the utilization of existing infrastructure for clean energy production tomorrow.

Suggested Citation

  • Haneklaus, Nils & Qvist, Staffan & Gładysz, Paweł & Bartela, Łukasz, 2023. "Why coal-fired power plants should get nuclear-ready," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:280:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223015633
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.128169
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223015633
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.128169?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moon, Won-Ki & Kahlor, Lee Ann & Olson, Hilary Clement, 2020. "Understanding public support for carbon capture and storage policy: The roles of social capital, stakeholder perceptions, and perceived risk/benefit of technology," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    2. Aiden Peakman & Bruno Merk, 2019. "The Role of Nuclear Power in Meeting Current and Future Industrial Process Heat Demands," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Dan Tong & Qiang Zhang & Steven J. Davis & Fei Liu & Bo Zheng & Guannan Geng & Tao Xue & Meng Li & Chaopeng Hong & Zifeng Lu & David G. Streets & Dabo Guan & Kebin He, 2018. "Targeted emission reductions from global super-polluting power plant units," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 59-68, January.
    4. Black, Geoffrey A. & Aydogan, Fatih & Koerner, Cassandra L., 2019. "Economic viability of light water small modular nuclear reactors: General methodology and vendor data," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 248-258.
    5. Wealer, B. & Bauer, S. & Hirschhausen, C.v. & Kemfert, C. & Göke, L., 2021. "Investing into third generation nuclear power plants - Review of recent trends and analysis of future investments using Monte Carlo Simulation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Vujić, Jasmina & Bergmann, Ryan M. & Škoda, Radek & Miletić, Marija, 2012. "Small modular reactors: Simpler, safer, cheaper?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 288-295.
    7. Brown, Nicholas R., 2022. "Engineering demonstration reactors: A stepping stone on the path to deployment of advanced nuclear energy in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    8. Elaheh Shobeiri & Filippo Genco & Daniel Hoornweg & Akira Tokuhiro, 2023. "Small Modular Reactor Deployment and Obstacles to Be Overcome," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-19, April.
    9. Henryk Łukowicz & Łukasz Bartela & Paweł Gładysz & Staffan Qvist, 2023. "Repowering a Coal Power Plant Steam Cycle Using Modular Light-Water Reactor Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, March.
    10. Łukasz Bartela & Paweł Gładysz & Charalampos Andreades & Staffan Qvist & Janusz Zdeb, 2021. "Techno-Economic Assessment of Coal-Fired Power Unit Decarbonization Retrofit with KP-FHR Small Modular Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-25, April.
    11. Frederik Reitsma & Peter Woods & Martin Fairclough & Yongjin Kim & Harikrishnan Tulsidas & Luis Lopez & Yanhua Zheng & Ahmed Hussein & Gerd Brinkmann & Nils Haneklaus & Anand Rao Kacham & Tumuluri Sre, 2018. "On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, January.
    12. Fan, Jing-Li & Li, Zezheng & Li, Kai & Zhang, Xian, 2022. "Modelling plant-level abatement costs and effects of incentive policies for coal-fired power generation retrofitted with CCUS," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    13. Song Xu & Yiu Hin Martin Lu & Meiheriayi Mutailipu & Kanti Yan & Yaoli Zhang & Staffan Qvist, 2022. "Repowering Coal Power in China by Nuclear Energy—Implementation Strategy and Potential," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-27, January.
    14. Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Sainati, Tristano, 2020. "Deeds not words: Barriers and remedies for Small Modular nuclear Reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    15. Parvareh, Forough & Sharma, Manish & Qadir, Abdul & Milani, Dia & Khalilpour, Rajab & Chiesa, Matteo & Abbas, Ali, 2014. "Integration of solar energy in coal-fired power plants retrofitted with carbon capture: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1029-1044.
    16. Łukasz Bartela & Paweł Gładysz & Jakub Ochmann & Staffan Qvist & Lou Martinez Sancho, 2022. "Repowering a Coal Power Unit with Small Modular Reactors and Thermal Energy Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-28, August.
    17. Davis, Steven J & Lewis, Nathan S. & Shaner, Matthew & Aggarwal, Sonia & Arent, Doug & Azevedo, Inês & Benson, Sally & Bradley, Thomas & Brouwer, Jack & Chiang, Yet-Ming & Clack, Christopher T.M. & Co, 2018. "Net-Zero Emissions Energy Systems," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt7qv6q35r, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    18. Carless, Travis S. & Griffin, W. Michael & Fischbeck, Paul S., 2016. "The environmental competitiveness of small modular reactors: A life cycle study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 84-99.
    19. Jessica Jewell & Vadim Vinichenko & Lola Nacke & Aleh Cherp, 2019. "Prospects for powering past coal," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(8), pages 592-597, August.
    20. Michaelson, D. & Jiang, J., 2021. "Review of integration of small modular reactors in renewable energy microgrids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    21. Jiang, Dianqiang & Zhang, Dalin & Li, Xinyu & Wang, Shibao & Wang, Chenglong & Qin, Hao & Guo, Yanwen & Tian, Wenxi & Su, G.H. & Qiu, Suizheng, 2022. "Fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactors: Review of historical milestones, research status, challenges, and outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    22. Rowinski, Marcin Karol & White, Timothy John & Zhao, Jiyun, 2015. "Small and Medium sized Reactors (SMR): A review of technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 643-656.
    23. Mignacca, B. & Locatelli, G., 2020. "Economics and finance of Small Modular Reactors: A systematic review and research agenda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    24. Ryan Wiser & Joseph Rand & Joachim Seel & Philipp Beiter & Erin Baker & Eric Lantz & Patrick Gilman, 2021. "Expert elicitation survey predicts 37% to 49% declines in wind energy costs by 2050," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(5), pages 555-565, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dong, Zhe & Cheng, Zhonghua & Zhu, Yunlong & Huang, Xiaojin & Dong, Yujie & Zhang, Zuoyi, 2023. "Coordinated control of mHTGR-based nuclear steam supply systems considering cold helium temperature," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    2. Lin, Boqiang & Ullah, Sami, 2024. "Modeling the impacts of changes in nuclear energy, natural gas, and coal in the environment through the novel DARDL approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    3. Hui, Jiuwu, 2024. "Discrete-time integral terminal sliding mode load following controller coupled with disturbance observer for a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    4. Li, Zongkun & Yan, Yiming & Fan, Guangming & Zeng, Xiaobo & Hao, Shuai & Yan, Changqi, 2024. "Non-uniform boiling heat transfer characteristics and calculation evaluation in U-tube steam generator tube bundle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    5. Sobczak, Jolanta & Żyła, Gaweł, 2024. "Nano and microcomposites as gamma and X-ray ionizing radiation shielding materials — A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pablo Fernández-Arias & Diego Vergara & Álvaro Antón-Sancho, 2023. "Bibliometric Review and Technical Summary of PWR Small Modular Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Nian, Victor & Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio, 2022. "Policies toward net-zero: Benchmarking the economic competitiveness of nuclear against wind and solar energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    3. Carless, Travis S. & Talabi, Sola M. & Fischbeck, Paul S., 2019. "Risk and regulatory considerations for small modular reactor emergency planning zones based on passive decontamination potential," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 740-756.
    4. Carlo L. Vinoya & Aristotle T. Ubando & Alvin B. Culaba & Wei-Hsin Chen, 2023. "State-of-the-Art Review of Small Modular Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-30, April.
    5. Steigerwald, Björn & Weibezahn, Jens & Slowik, Martin & von Hirschhausen, Christian, 2023. "Uncertainties in estimating production costs of future nuclear technologies: A model-based analysis of small modular reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    6. Weng, Tingwei & Zhang, Guangxu & Wang, Haixin & Qi, Mingliang & Qvist, Staffan & Zhang, Yaoli, 2024. "The impact of coal to nuclear on regional energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    7. Michaelson, D. & Jiang, J., 2021. "Review of integration of small modular reactors in renewable energy microgrids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Zhe Dong & Miao Liu & Di Jiang & Xiaojin Huang & Yajun Zhang & Zuoyi Zhang, 2018. "Automatic Generation Control of Nuclear Heating Reactor Power Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    9. Li, Zezheng & Yu, Pengwei & Xian, Yujiao & Fan, Jing-Li, 2024. "Investment benefit analysis of coal-to-hydrogen coupled CCS technology in China based on real option approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    10. Erwan Hermawan & Usman Sudjadi, 2022. "Integrated Nuclear-Renewable Energy System for Industrialization in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia: Economic, Potential Site, and Policy Recommendation," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(4), pages 146-159, July.
    11. Mignacca, B. & Locatelli, G., 2020. "Economics and finance of Small Modular Reactors: A systematic review and research agenda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    12. Wang, Qiang & Li, Rongrong & He, Gang, 2018. "Research status of nuclear power: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 90-96.
    13. Wealer, B. & Bauer, S. & Hirschhausen, C.v. & Kemfert, C. & Göke, L., 2021. "Investing into third generation nuclear power plants - Review of recent trends and analysis of future investments using Monte Carlo Simulation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    14. Qu, Chunzi & Bang, Rasmus Noss, 2023. "Comparative Investment Analysis of Wind and Nuclear Energy: Assessing the Impact of Changes in the Electricity Mix and Required Government Support for Investment Parity," Discussion Papers 2023/8, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    15. Black, Geoffrey A. & Aydogan, Fatih & Koerner, Cassandra L., 2019. "Economic viability of light water small modular nuclear reactors: General methodology and vendor data," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 248-258.
    16. Liu, Yanyan & Huang, Guohe & Chen, Jiapei & Zhang, Xiaoyue & Zheng, Xiaogui & Zhai, Mengyu, 2022. "Development of an optimization-aided small modular reactor siting model – A case study of Saskatchewan, Canada," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    17. Jiang, Dianqiang & Zhang, Dalin & Li, Xinyu & Wang, Shibao & Wang, Chenglong & Qin, Hao & Guo, Yanwen & Tian, Wenxi & Su, G.H. & Qiu, Suizheng, 2022. "Fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactors: Review of historical milestones, research status, challenges, and outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    18. Okunlola, Ayodeji & Davis, Matthew & Kumar, Amit, 2023. "Assessing the cost competitiveness of electrolytic hydrogen production from small modular nuclear reactor-based power plants: A price-following perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    19. Alonso, Gustavo & Bilbao, Sama & Valle, Edmundo del, 2016. "Economic competitiveness of small modular reactors versus coal and combined cycle plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(P1), pages 867-879.
    20. Nian, Victor & Ghori, Amjad & Guerra, Eddie M. & Locatelli, Giorgio & Murphy, Paul, 2022. "Accelerating safe small modular reactor development in Southeast Asia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:280:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223015633. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.