Study of the Impact of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) and NuScale Reactors on Economic and Environmental Aspects
Kevin Wijaya(a) and Sidik Permana(a,b)

a) Nuclear Physics and Biophysics Research Division, Physics Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jalan Ganesha 10 Bandung 40132, Indonesia.
b) Nuclear Science and Engineering Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jalan Ganesha 10 Bandung 40132, Indonesia.

Abstract

Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) are one type of power plant that can produce large amounts of electricity and do not produce carbon. Although when operating, NPPs can compete with power plants from other energy sources, they require quite large capital costs. In addition, there have been cases of nuclear accidents that have an impact on the environment. Therefore, this article discusses the economic and environmental analysis of the existence of NPPs. In addition, the NuScale Reactor is also analyzed from the design and development, seawater desalination, and the impact of NuScale on the economy and the environment. From the results of the study, it was found that NPPs require large capital costs but when operating they tend to be smaller, NPPs can also open up jobs from various sectors, have a significant impact on environmental objects such as water quality, soil, air, ecosystems, and habitats. Also obtained are design features that are only owned by NuScale and can answer the Fukushima disaster problem. Then, information was obtained that there are three desalination and reverse osmosis (RO) processes that are more efficient in terms of economy and produce clean water, while if water quality is desired, the multi-effect distillation (MED) process can be used.

Keywords: Desalination, economy, environment, nuclear power plant, NuScale

Topic: Energy Management, Regulation, and Policy