Electricity from nuclear; AC, technology mix of BWR and PWR; production mix, at power plant; 1kV - 60kV

Categories:
Categories:
Processes/Energy conversion/Electricity supply/Electricity grid mix/Electricity from nuclear power
Location:
FI - Finland
Reference year: 2011 - 2016
Description

The data set covers all relevant process steps and technologies along the supply chain. The country / region specific share of boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized water reactor (PWR) is taken into account as well as the country / region specific nuclear fuel supply chain. The inventory is partly based on primary industry data, partly on secondary literature data. Radioactive waste refurbishment, if any, is modeled. Radioactive waste disposal is not modeled since there is globally no permanent disposal site in operation. The data set can be used for all LCA/CF studies where medium voltage electricity from nuclear power is needed. Combination with individual unit processes using this commodity enables the generation of user-specific (product) LCAs.

Technology

Foreground system:
The model comprises the production of electricity from a mix of pressure water (PWR) and boiling water (BWR) reactors. The power plants are parameterized and the mix is country specific. Furthermore the model includes the infrastructure of the power plant as well as the end-of-life of the auxiliary buildings, e.g. cooling tower. The model is structured considering the main phases of the fuel cycle. In that perspective, the following main steps are considered:
a) Mining - extraction of the uranium from the mine using the processes of open pit mining and/or underground mining and/or in situ leach mining;
b) Milling - extraction of the uranium from the rock and production of a highly concentrated uranium oxide - "yellow cake";
c) Conversion - conversion of the "yellow cake" into uranium hexafluoride through dry process or wet process;
d) Enrichment - increase of the proportion of isotopes U235 in the uranium hexafluoride through one of the technologies: diffusion or centrifuge;
e) Fuel fabrication / production of the fuel assemblies that will be used in the reactors;
f) Use of the uranium in reactor; as mentioned, two types of reactor are represented: pressure and boiling water reactors.
g) End of life of the spent fuel; after using the uranium in the rector, there are different possibilities for the uranium end-of-life: no reprocessing (direct storage); reprocessing according to UK technology; reprocessing according to FR technology;
h) End-of-life of the LLW/MLW generated; according to the type of wastes, these are directly disposed or have a treatment (typically incineration, fusion and/or vitrification).
Background system:
Electricity: Electricity is modelled according to the individual country-specific situations. The country-specific modelling is achieved on multiple levels. Firstly, individual energy carrier specific power plants and plants for renewable energy sources are modelled according to the current national electricity grid mix. Modelling the electricity consumption mix includes transmission / distribution losses and the own use by energy producers (own consumption of power plants and "other" own consumption e.g. due to pumped storage hydro power etc.), as well as imported electricity. Secondly, the national emission and efficiency standards of the power plants are modelled as well as the share of electricity plants and combined heat and power plants (CHP). Thirdly, the country-specific energy carrier supply (share of imports and / or domestic supply) including the country-specific energy carrier properties (e.g. element and energy content) are accounted for. Fourthly, the exploration, mining/production, processing and transport processes of the energy carrier supply chains are modelled according to the specific situation of each electricity producing country. The different production and processing techniques (emissions and efficiencies) in the different energy producing countries are considered, e.g. different crude oil production technologies or different flaring rates at the oil platforms.
Thermal energy, process steam: The thermal energy and process steam supply is modelled according to the individual country-specific situation with regard to emission standards and considered energy carriers. The thermal energy and process steam are produced at heat plants. Efficiencies for thermal energy production are by definition 100% in relation to the corresponding energy carrier input. For process steam the efficiency ranges from 85%, 90% to 95%. The energy carriers used for the generation of thermal energy and process steam are modelled according to the specific import situation (see electricity above).
Transports: All relevant and known transport processes are included. Ocean-going and inland ship transport as well as rail, truck and pipeline transport of bulk commodities are considered.
Energy carriers: The energy carriers are modelled according to the specific supply situation (see electricity above).
Refinery products: Diesel fuel, gasoline, technical gases, fuel oils, lubricants and residues such as bitumen are modelled with a parameterised country-specific refinery model. The refinery model represents the current national standard in refining techniques (e.g. emission level, internal energy consumption, etc.) as well as the individual country-specific product output spectrum, which can be quite different from country to country. The supply of crude oil is modelled, again, according to the country-specific situation with the respective properties of the resources.

Process type
Fully aggregated
Supported nomenclature
ILCD
LCI modeling approach
Attributional
Multifunctional modeling
NOT_APPLICABLE
Format
ILCD
Aggregation type
VERTICAL
Data provider
Sphera
Review status
External
Cost
Free
License

GaBi (source code, database including extension modules and single data sets, documentation) remains property of PE INTERNATIONAL AG. PE INTERNATIONAL AG delivers GaBi licenses comprising data storage medium and manual as ordered by the customer. The license guarantees the right of use for one installation of GaBi. Further installations using the same license are not permitted. Additional licenses are only valid if the licensee holds at least one main license. Licenses are not transferable and must only be used within the licensee's organisation. Data sets may be copied for internal use. The number of copies is restricted to the number of licenses of the software system GaBi the licensee owns. The right of use is exclusively valid for the licensee. All rights reserved.
thinkstep has put this specific dataset into The Life Cycle Data Network (LCDN) (http://46.163.107.157:8080/Node/index.xhtml) under the following Creative Commons license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Contact
PE INTERNATIONAL