Sustainable Nuclear Education The Swiss situation

Transcription

1 Wir schaffen Wissen heute für morgen Paul Scherrer Institut Martin A. Zimmermann, A. Pautz (EPFL), H.-M. Prasser (ETHZ) Sustainable Nuclear Education The Swiss situation SNEC 2014 convention (November 25, 2014 )

2 Content Short history of nuclear power development in Switzerland Context for nuclear in Switzerland Challenges for the Swiss nuclear industry Nuclear Education in Switzerland Strategy of Nuclear Energy and Safety Research Department at PSI How to maintain nuclear competence? SNEC Seite 2

3 Short history of nuclear energy in Switzerland (I) 1937: Scherrer et.al. miss the discovery of nuclear fission 1938: Hahn and Strassmann find fission fragments, Meitner and Frisch explain them by the nuclear fission process 1939: Szilard (US) and Halban, Joliot and Kowarsky (F) recognize possibility of chain reaction Number of fission neutrons measured at ETH Zuerich (Bradt) 1942: First pile critical (Fermi) 1945: Newspaper article by Scherrer explaining basics of nuclear energy 1946: 3 industry companies start working on nuclear developments 1955: Reaktor AG founded by Swiss industries SAPHIR purchased 1957: SAPHIR operational SNEC

4 Short history of nuclear energy in Switzerland (II) 1960: Government takes over Reaktor AG DIORIT operational Construction of the hotlab 1964: NOK (AXPO today) purchases Westinghouse PWR at Beznau 1965: BKW decides for GE BWR at Mühleberg 1967: Swiss industry abandons development of Swiss reactor SNEC

5 Short history of nuclear energy in Switzerland (III) March 1955: Creation of Reaktor AG in Würenlingen by group of industries (incl. BBC and Sulzer) : First criticality of Heavy Water moderated and cooled reactor DIORIT SNEC Swimming pool reactor SAPHIR purchased 1955 from US (after 1 st Geneva conference Atoms for Peace )

6 Today s traditional nuclear research infrastructure SAPHIR PROTEUS DIORIT Hotlab PANDA SNEC

7 Short history of nuclear energy in Switzerland (IV) Nuclear projects in Switzerland 1. Suisatom (ATEL, NOK, BKW, EOS, CKW, SBB, EW): Purchase of 20 MW e BWR from der General Electric in Villigen (AG) (opposite to PSI) 2. ENUSA (Consortium of french-speaking states, cities and industry): Constrution of a 5 MW e Swiss boiling water reactor in Lucens (Vaud, 1962) 3. ETH-Heating reactor (Elektrowatt, Escher-Wyss, Oerlikon, Zublin, etc.), Heavy Water Reactor 25 MW t. Government supported only one project: #2 Was abandoned after partial core melt (1969) SNEC

8 PSI today SNEC

9 Electricity Generation in CH (2013) Nuclear Power Plants Hydro Rivers Hydro Dams SNEC

10 Swiss Nuclear Park SNEC

11 Background for nuclear in Switzerland Following Fukushima (March 2011), the Swiss government has decided to stop the plan for the construction of new nuclear power plants and also to phase-out the usage of nuclear energy in Switzerland as part of the Energy Strategy Based on a decision of both chambers of the parliament in 2011, the government is committed to ensure nuclear research in Switzerland. Maintaining nuclear competence remains a continuing key mission of national relevance, and PSI was tasked by the ETH Board with this mission as the leading Swiss organisation in this field. SNEC

12 Swiss Nuclear Park KKB I: 2019 / 2029 KKB II: 2021 / 2031 X / / 2044 SNEC

13 Challenges for nuclear utilities in Switzerland Consider long term operation (50 60 yrs) Economic feasibility? KKM that will shut down in 2019 Political acceptance? Currently 1 initiative calling for limiting of plant lifetime to 45 yrs Concept for Long Term Operation (including investment plan ) required Prizes for base-load electricity barely cover generation costs Estimated costs for decommissioning rising higher financial costs for decommissioning fund Legal framework currently under revision in significant aspects SNEC

14 The Joint Master EPFL-ETHZ in Nuclear Engineering First and only joint master program EPFL - ETHZ (since 2008) Builds on complementarity of the two NE-related chairs Active participation of PSI in lecturing and supervision of master theses Program focus: Fundamentals & technology of nuclear fission for safe and sustainable energy supply 120 credit points (cp) in four semesters: 10 mandatory core courses (42 cp) + elective courses (32 cp) + Industrial internship (8 cp) + study project (8 cp) + master thesis (30 cp) Recently extended with courses on Decommissioning, Medical Radiation physics, Uncertainty analysis, Degree open to Bachelors in various disciplines: Physics, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering SNEC

15 EPFL/ETHZ/PSI Nuclear Master Program since 2008 Applications received Students admitted Students enrolled In 2014, more students than ever before (16) are enrolled Of these students, 4 have an EPFL/ETHZ bachelor (in 2013: 1, in 2012: 5) Of the 12 students who just finished, (at least) 3 pursue a PhD at PSI, 2 found a job in Switzerland (KKL, Nagra) SNEC

16 Other nuclear education Every 2 3 years, swissnuclear and PSI offer a Fortbildungskurs Kerntechnik Further educuation in nuclear engineering Open to participants working in the nuclear field, depending on the level of education with more or less years of experience (acceptance reviewed by small committee) Lecturers from industry, academia, PSI, and regulator Scope of lectures is practical application (as little theory as feasible) SNEC

17 NES SNEC

18 NES key numbers (September 2014) Total staff ~200 (199.6) 7 lab/div heads + department head ~138.6 scientists and engineers 22 PostDocs (5 PSI COFUND, 1 SNF) 23 PhD students (3 SNF) + 5 PhD students from EPFL PhD students from ETHZ (2 SNF proposals) ~45 technical personnel (different level of education) ~7 administrative personnel SNEC

19 Vision of NES NES is the Swiss national center of competence for nuclear energy. It addresses nuclear R&D issues of current and future national interest as active partner of the international nuclear research community. It recognizes the multi-disciplinary character of nuclear safety by fostering corresponding intensive interactions across disciplinary boundaries within NES, PSI and the ETH domain. It achieves an adequate balance between research and services and the corresponding mix of financial resources. SNEC

20 Major Challenge: Maintain Nuclear Competence 1. Continue to contribute to the current state-of-technology for thermal and fast systems in the NES technical domains Maintain international competiveness and (continue to) participate in international initiatives (H2020, OECD/NEA, ETSON, ) Monitor evolving new nuclear technology ( Gen IV) 2. Further develop competence center for geochemistry of radionuclides and multi-scale contaminant transport 3. Maintain capability of handling and foster investigation of radioactive materials ( HOTLAB) 4. Strengthening of basic research (at SLS, SINQ) Increase competitive Zweitmittel for more research independence Acquire FIB/SEM for preparation of (active) micro-samples 5. Foster Nuclear Education by substantially contributing to the Swiss Nuclear Master Program (and other programs) 6. Apply NES competencies in neighboring fields Explore application of NES expertise to decommissioning 7. Manage governance issues (Independence / Conflict of Interest) SNEC

21 NES mission: Maintain Nuclear Competence Safety Understanding/modeling relevant phenomena Normal Operation Severe Accidents Monitoring material integrity Waste Management Quantifying radionuclides retention Ascertaining safety of final repository Materials Science New Technologies Reduced risk - Reduced waste Gen IV Education SNEC

22 How to maintain nuclear competence? Maintain network of cooperation Invest in nuclear education Create new cross-cutting project SNEC

23 Candidate system for NES studies: MSR (Gen-IV) Fluid Fuel Reactor (e.g. MSR) is a substantially different reactor concept Fluid Fuel compared Reactor to (e.g. the MSR) ones already is a substantially studied in different NES reactor concept compared to the ones already studied in NES Requires re-thinking of nuclear safety questions Requires re-thinking of nuclear safety questions Considerable Considerable design design component component Platform for for education (MSc and and PhD projeccts) Fast, thermal, as well as intermediate spectrum possible Good system to to explore «zero risk, risk, zero waste» (Thorium) Contributions Contributions from from all all labs labs possible possible (multi-disciplinarity) (multi-disciplinarity) Kernel of expertise already available Kernel of expertise already available Good prospects for cooperation Good Some prospects funding already for cooperation acquired Some funding already acquired

24 Summary Switzerland has opted for (slowly) phasing out nuclear Nuclear industry faces significant challenges in Switzerland NES clusters its R&D activities around Safety (of operating reactors) Scientific Support to Waste Management New Technologies (monitoring state-of-the-art): GIF, Molten Salt Reactor And supports Nuclear Education with embedded Post Docs PhD s Since creation of the Nuclear Engineering Masters (EPFL ETHZ PSI) in 2008 steadily rising number of mainly international students SNEC