Thermal Assessment of Very High Temperature Reactors: Direct and Indirect Brayton Power Cycles
- Unit of Nuclear Safety Research, CIEMAT, 28040 Madrid (Spain)
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, COMILLAS, 28015 Madrid (Spain)
Search for a sustainable energy supply system has driven nuclear engineering towards what has been termed Generation IV. One of the main objectives of these innovative nuclear designs is to reach a high thermal efficiency in their power cycles. This way a substantial fuel saving and waste reduction is achieved, which would enhance competitiveness of the nuclear kWh. This paper investigates the thermal performance of helium-cooled power cycles based on the characteristic working parameters of Very High Temperature Reactor systems both at present and at the near future. Direct (C(IC){sup 2}HTRTX) and indirect (C(IC){sup 2}(IHX)TX) cycle baselines have been modelled and both have shown an excellent thermal performance ( with thermal efficiencies near or even higher than 50%). Enhancement of associated technology would increase thermal performance (i.e., and wnet) of both cycles drastically. The analysis of the results indicate that from the thermal performance standpoint, the cycle C(IC){sup 2}HTRTX would be a better option. However, when advances in associated technologies are considered, the efficiency gap between the two baselines analyzed become smaller. In no case net power turned out to be a differential feature between the layouts. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21021087
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2006 International congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, Reno - Nevada (United States), 4-8 Jun 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France; 15 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2006 international congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'06, 2734 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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