Many of the operating nuclear power plants around the world were built in the 1970s. Originally, nuclear power plants were licensed for forty years of operation. This means that a lot of nuclear power reactors have reached the end of their intended life spans. Power reactors have routinely been granted another twenty years of operation in the U.S. France announced last February that it was going to increase the limit on power reactor operating from forty years to fifty years. The U.K. just added five years to the lives of four reactors that were scheduled to close soon. However, there are serious problems with keeping aging power reactors going. The older a reactor is, the more difficult and dangerous it is to keep it operating.
As the older generation of nuclear technicians retires, it is becoming more difficult to find people with the expertise needed to operate obsolete equipment. With uncertainties in the future of the nuclear industry, the number of people becoming nuclear engineers has not kept up with the demand.
One major problem on old reactors is embrittlement of the metal of the reactors due to bombardment with neutrons. Brittle reactor vessels may crack open and release radioactive materials when subjected to extreme stress.
Many of the components used in nuclear power plants wear out over time. It has been estimated that as much as twenty five percent of the parts used in operating nuclear power plants are now obsolete. Power plant design has changed over time and many aging parts are no longer being manufactured. This means that they are not replaced or they are replaced by other parts that may not be an exact match or that replacement parts may have to be custom made which is very expensive. None of these options are really acceptable. When parts break and have to be replaced, even if replacement parts are available, the reactor has to be shut down and the flow of electricity stops. The older a reactor gets, the more of these stoppages can be expected.
With cheap power available from natural gas, reactors in the U.S. have already been permanently shut down because they became too expensive to repair. A recent survey of the nuclear industry found that ninety percent of those surveyed agreed that the industry needed to raised the efficiency of their nuclear power plants. Eighty six percent said that the age of a plant had an impact on its efficiency.
The Nuclear Power Plant Optimization Summit is being held this week in Brussels, Belgium. One hundred and fifty nuclear executives will meet to share their expertise on how to keep old nuclear power plants operating safely and economically. In November, the Nuclear Power Plant Life Management & Extension conference is taking place in Paris, France.
The owners and operators of nuclear power plants would like to keep their reactors going as long as possible because of the profits they reap from selling electricity and the enormous cost of decommissioning a nuclear power reactor. Unfortunately, the profit motivation may cause some operators to cut corners on maintenance and repairs to keep their overhead down.
Some countries such as China, Russia and India are dedicated to building substantial numbers of new nuclear power reactors. However, for a number of different reasons, it is unlikely that the aging fleet of reactors in the U.S. and Western Europe will be replaced with new reactors. As more reactors are retired and decommissioning costs rise, there will be increasing public and investor backlash against new power reactor projects in the U.S. and Western Europe.
