What goes into the decision of where to site a nuclear power plant? As you might expect, the short answer to that is “lots.” In addition, countries around the globe are now reaching out to the nuclear power industry for future needs for electricity, heating or desalination projects. Where are all those new plants going to go? Specifically.
The International Atomic Energy Agencyh said that 29 participants took an extensive short course, running July 22 through 26, in Vienna, Austria, entitled the Interregional Training Course on Siting Nuclear Power Plants. The course was deemed unique in that it did not simply define the infrastructure needs of a nuclear plant, but included the expectation that the needs would have to pair up with existing infrastructure. “This training course is unique because it is not looking at siting in isolation, but linking it to other infrastructure issues,” said Emmanuel Wandera of the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency of Kenya.
The course agenda included lectures by IAEA and external experts, group exercises and country case studies from embarking countries, the agency said.
Topics covered in the course included environmental protection, stakeholder involvement, electrical grid, industrial involvement, management, natural or human induced external events, characteristics of the site, population distribution, and feasibility of planning effective emergency response actions. Nuclear security issues were also on the course syllabus.
The IAEA has been assisting newcomer countries in the development of a new nuclear power programs for over a decade through a three-phased IAEA Milestones Approach, a management guide for developing a sustainable nuclear power program.