Overview
- First document explicitly mixing scientific, engineering, economic and environmental motivations in nuclear energy production
- Strong statement made on the crucial need for basic science for the construction of high-performance nuclear reactors
- Tutorial approach accessible to undergraduates and graduates or engineers
Part of the book series: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics (NAPSB)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (29 papers)
-
Front Matter
Keywords
About this book
Global warming, shortage of low-cost oil resources and the increasing demand for energy are currently controlling the world's economic expansion while often opposing desires for sustainable and peaceful development. In this context, atomic energy satisfactorily fulfills the criteria of low carbon gas production and high overall yield. However, in the absence of industrial fast-breeders the use of nuclear fuel is not optimal, and the production of high activity waste materials is at a maximum. These are the principal reasons for the development of a new, fourth generation of nuclear reactors, minimizing the undesirable side-effects of current nuclear energy production technology while increasing yields by increasing operation temperatures and opening the way for the industrial production of hydrogen through the decomposition of water.
The construction and use of such reactors is hindered by several factors, including performance limitations of known structural materials, particularly if the life of the projected systems had to extend over the periods necessary to achieve low costs (at least 60 years).
This book collects lectures and seminars presented at the homonymous NATO ASI held in autumn 2007 at the Institut d’Etudes Scientifiques in Cargèse, France. The adopted approach aims at improving and coordinating basic knowledge in materials science and engineering with specific areas of condensed matter physics, the physics of particle/matter interaction and of radiation damage. It is our belief that this methodology is crucially conditioning the development and the industrial production of new structural materials capable of coping with the requirements of these future reactors.
Editors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Materials Issues for Generation IV Systems
Book Subtitle: Status, Open Questions and Challenges
Editors: Véronique Ghetta, Dominique Gorse, Dominique Mazière, Vassilis Pontikis
Series Title: NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8422-5
Publisher: Springer Dordrecht
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-8421-8Published: 05 May 2008
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-8423-2Published: 28 April 2008
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4020-8422-5Published: 23 April 2008
Series ISSN: 1874-6500
Series E-ISSN: 1874-6535
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 586
Topics: Materials Science, general, Nuclear Energy, Engineering, general, Classical and Continuum Physics, Computational Science and Engineering