A comparative study on environmental assessment for power generation systems using LCA methodology

Many kinds of energy resources are used to meet the demand of the electric power in the world and also in Korea. Public health, environmental, economic and social effect should be considered in determining a national energy policy. An integrated risk estimation methodology is required for the comparison and determination of various energy resources for electricity generation. As a part of integrated risk estimation, this study is aimed to assess the environmental impact of the various electric power generation systems through their life cycle - construction, operation and destruction stage. The nuclear power system (PWR and PHWR), LNG power system (thermal power/ combined cycle) and bituminous power system are considered in the present study. The Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) was used to compare with the environmental impacts for these electric power generation systems. This result will be applied as environmental database for the integrated risk estimations of various power generation systems