Spatial evaluation of the nuclear power plant installation based on energy demand for sustainable energy policy

Abstract

Knowing the energy demand guides the future investments of countries. Nuclear power plant (NPP) is an important resource to guide sustainable energy policies in sectoral investments. The first step for the reliable, accurate and energy-demand-based use of this resource is the NPP installation on a suitable site. Therefore, spatial evaluation is required for NPP in terms of planning and management. The purpose of this study was to identify the potential province for NPP installation depending on the energy demand and to select the most suitable sites in this province by using geographic information system integrated with fuzzy analytic hierarchy process from multi-criteria decision making. First of all, the energy demand map for Turkey was produced by considering the demographic and economic criteria. From this map, it was concluded that Bursa has a very high energy potential province. Then, the suitability map was created by handling the environmental, social and safety criteria for site selection in Bursa. Results showed that Bursa has a very high suitability site for NPP, which spans 1092 km(2) (10%) after deducting the restricted sites, relatively and least suitable sites. Finally, nine candidate sites were selected from among the most suitable sites, and these sites were evaluated in terms of tourism, agricultural activities, sufficient cooling water and area sizes. As a result of the evaluations, two priority sites (CS-7 and CS-9) for NPP were found in Bursa. The examination of NPP site suitability would assist in the country's development and spatial plans.