January - March 1999

Reducing Electric Power Emissions:
Are Kyoto Targets Reachable?
[Abstract] [References]

Nuclear Power Safety Regulation:
Reducing Risk and Expense
[Abstract] [References]

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Reducing Electric Power Emissions:
Are Kyoto Targets Reachable?

hat mix of policies and technologies will let us produce and use electricity while protecting environmental, economic, and social health for future generations? An international team led by Energy Laboratory researchers has developed a methodology to help decisionmakers address that question. The outcomes of initial case studies are sobering. The methodology combines engineering, cost-accounting, and life-cycle assessment techniques to study potential strategies for specific regions. In each study, an advisory group of governmental representatives, utility executives, business people, and special interest groups provides information on regional needs and constraints and ultimately identifies the strategies that best meet their diverse interests. Studies of New England and Switzerland examined strategies involving expanded use of natural-gas combined-cycle generation and renewable technologies as well as improved end-use efficiency. Even the most aggressive strategies produced carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions well above the levels prescribed by the Kyoto Protocol. The researchers conclude that achieving substantial and sustained reductions in CO₂ emissions will require changes in the basic electricity supply and demand infrastructure. Target strategies include the use of distributed generation systems including small cogenerators, more efficient transmission systems, novel building designs, and "smart" meters that control electrical devices to maximize operational efficiency. Also critical is the transfer of new technologies to nations whose energy infrastructures are expanding rapidly, especially developing nations. Finally, control of CO₂ emissions must be coordinated with the reduction of other emissions that are more important at local and regional levels.

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Nuclear Power Safety Regulation:
Reducing Risk and Expense

n 1997, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that safety regulation for nuclear power plants would be changing. In the past, plant operators had to deal with long checklists of tests and inspections. In the future, they would instead set goals for overall plant performance and undertake procedures focusing on specific components and systems whose failure would most threaten plant safety. However, a period of transition is required; and the ultimate success of the new system is not assured. A new Energy Laboratory study demonstrates the practicality and potential economic and safety benefits of the new "risk-informed, performance-based" regulation and points to several obstacles now preventing its full implementation. A major portion of the study focuses on the example of the emergency diesel generator, a back-up electricity-generating device whose failure could pose a serious risk to the reactor core. Based on surveys of experts and data from an operating nuclear plant, the MIT researchers and their industrial collaborators determined that many of the current requirements do not increase safety and some may actually reduce it. They developed a different inspection and maintenance plan that would--according to probabilistic risk assessments--yield the same or greater level of safety with less effort. However, their work suggests that complete implementation of performance-based regulation requires better data bases and analytical models, the integration of expert opinion into the regulatory process, and improved procedures for testing the reliability of components. They conclude that performance-based regulation, properly implemented, could be critical to the future viability of nuclear power and that it might be the source of important safety and economic gains for other regulatory agencies as well.

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Last updated: 05/23/1999

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