Planning Nuclear Energy Centers under Technological and Demand Uncertainty

摘要

The question considered is whether new nuclear power plants should be located in nuclear energy centers, or ''power parks'' with co-located fabrication and reprocessing facilities. That issue has been addressed in a recent study by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and remains under investigation at Brookhaven and elsewhere. So far, however, the advisability of this policy has been analyzed primarily within the framework of a single view of the future. Suggestions of the types of questions that should be asked regarding this policy if it is properly to be viewed as an example of decision making under uncertainty are made. It is concluded that ''A consideration of the various uncertainties involved in the question of dispersed vs. remote siting of energy facilities introduces a number of new elements into the analysis. On balance those considerations provide somewhat greater support for the clustered concept. The NEC approach seems to provide somewhat greater flexibility in accomodating possible future electricity generating technologies. Increased regulatory and construction efficiencies possible in an NEC reduces the impact of demand uncertainty as does the lower costs associated with construction acceleration or deceleration.'' It is also noted that, in the final analysis, ''it is the public's perception of the relative costs and benefits of a measure that determine the acceptability or unacceptability of a particular innovation,'' not the engineer's cost/benefit analysis. It is further noted that if the analysis can identify limits on analytical methods and models, it will not make the job of energy decision-making any easier, but it may make the process more responsive to its impact on society. (ERA citation 02:000845)