Choosing the right reactor technology: A key step to strengthen nuclear security in West Africa’s nuclear energy plans

IF 2.3 3区工程技术 Q1 NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Annals of Nuclear Energy Pub Date : 2025-09-06 DOI:10.1016/j.anucene.2025.111837

S.A. Birikorang , Y. Mansung , C. Marianno , M. Fuhrmann , S. Adu

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Abstract

This study examines the critical role of national capacity and technology selection in enhancing nuclear security within West Africa’s emerging nuclear energy landscape. An assessment of regional countries revealed varied levels of institutional resilience, security preparedness, and commitment to international safeguards, underscoring the necessity for robust national frameworks. Employing a fuzzy logic-based model, three Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs, NuScale, EM²-HTGR, and LFTR-MSR, were evaluated across 11 nuclear security indicators spanning two fuel cycle stages. Among them, NuScale ranked highest with a final score of 4.8038, followed by EM²-HTGR (3.9600) and LFTR-MSR (3.8542). NuScale’s superior performance confirms its suitability for the region. The study recommends a regional systems-thinking approach that integrates technical reliability, capacity building, and policy harmonization to ensure secure nuclear deployment.

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选择正确的反应堆技术：加强西非核能计划中核安全的关键一步

本研究考察了国家能力和技术选择在西非新兴核能领域加强核安全方面的关键作用。对区域各国的评估显示，各国的机构复原力、安全准备和对国际保障的承诺水平各不相同，强调了建立强有力的国家框架的必要性。采用基于模糊逻辑的模型，对NuScale、EM2-HTGR和LFTR-MSR三种小型模块化反应堆（SMR）设计进行了11项核安全指标评估，涵盖两个燃料循环阶段。其中，NuScale最终得分最高，为4.8038分，其次是EM2-HTGR（3.9600分）和LFTR-MSR（3.8542分）。NuScale优越的性能证实了其在该地区的适用性。该研究建议采用一种区域系统思维方法，将技术可靠性、能力建设和政策协调结合起来，以确保安全的核部署。

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来源期刊

Annals of Nuclear Energy 工程技术-核科学技术

CiteScore

4.30

自引率

21.10%

发文量

632

审稿时长

7.3 months

期刊介绍： Annals of Nuclear Energy provides an international medium for the communication of original research, ideas and developments in all areas of the field of nuclear energy science and technology. Its scope embraces nuclear fuel reserves, fuel cycles and cost, materials, processing, system and component technology (fission only), design and optimization, direct conversion of nuclear energy sources, environmental control, reactor physics, heat transfer and fluid dynamics, structural analysis, fuel management, future developments, nuclear fuel and safety, nuclear aerosol, neutron physics, computer technology (both software and hardware), risk assessment, radioactive waste disposal and reactor thermal hydraulics. Papers submitted to Annals need to demonstrate a clear link to nuclear power generation/nuclear engineering. Papers which deal with pure nuclear physics, pure health physics, imaging, or attenuation and shielding properties of concretes and various geological materials are not within the scope of the journal. Also, papers that deal with policy or economics are not within the scope of the journal.