Supplier Selection in the Nuclear Power Industry with an Integrated ANP-TODIM Method under Z-Number Circumstances

• Main Authors: Ya-Hua Liu, Heng-Ming Peng, Tie-Li Wang, Xiao-Kang Wang, Jian-Qiang Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: Symmetry
• Subjects: nuclear power equipment; supplier selection; Z-numbers; ANP; TODIM; MCDM
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/8/1357

Under the double pressure of global energy consumption and climate change, nuclear power has become a low-carbon alternative energy source that could transform the energy structure of the globe. In the nuclear power industry, selecting suitable suppliers plays a significant role in improving the overall performance of nuclear power projects. Along with this symmetrical impact, this paper aims to develop a multistage decision-support framework to determine the optimal nuclear power equipment supplier, which is constructed in the context of Z-number information. Concretely, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Tomada de Decisão Iterativa Multicritério (TODIM) are extended by Z-numbers symmetrically—namely, Z-ANP and Z-TODIM. Z-ANP is first applied to analyze the symmetrical interdependence of criteria, so as to accurately determine the criterion weights. Further, the ranking of alternatives is obtained by Z-TODIM, which sufficiently considers the risk preference and psychological states of decision-makers. Finally, a practical case of nuclear-grade cable procurement in the Karachi 2-3 international nuclear power project is performed to illustrate the practicality of the proposed method, and its robustness and superiority are proven by comparing it with current representative approaches.