SEMER:asimplecodefortheeconomicevaluationofnuclearandfossilenergy-basedpowerproductionsystemsOriginalResearchArticle

Thecodesystem,SEMER,wasrecentlydevelopedtoevaluatetheeconomicimpactofvariousnuclearreactorsandassociatedinnovations.Modelsfornearlyallfossilenergy-basedsystemswerealsoincludedtoprovideabasisforcostcomparisons. Essentially,SEMERincludesthreetypesofmodellibraries:theglobalmodel,forarapidestimationofvariousnuclearandfossilenergy-basedsystems,thedetailedmodels,forthefinercostevaluationofindividualcomponentsandcircuitsinaPWRtypeofreactorandthefuelcyclemodels,forPWRS,HTRsandFBRs,allowingthecostestimationsrelatedtoallthestepsinthenuclearfuelcycle,includingreprocessinganddisposal. Thispapersummarisesouron-goinginvestigationsonnewdevelopmentsin,andonthevalidationof,theSEMERsystem. Detailsofthemodellingprinciples,andtheresultsofvalidationcarriedoutinthecontextofanEDF/CEAJointProtocolAgreement,arealsopresented. Firstresultsofthisvalidationarehighlyencouraging: • RelativeerrorsforthetotalkWhorovernightandinvestmentcostsarelessthan5%forlargePWRsystemsoperatinginFranceorothercountries. • Theseerrorsarelessthan3%forsmall-sizedcompactPWRsandtheyareoftheorderof4–7%forHTRs(ascomparedtoIAEAestimations). • Forfossilenergy-basedpowerplants,therelativeerror,evenwithslightlydifferentcostbreakdownbetweenSEMERandthatofexistinginstallations,isfrom5to20%. • Similarly,errorsonthenuclearfuelcyclecostsareabout1–4%,comparedtopublishedreferencevalues.