Design of a Thermal Energy Storage System for SMR's
- Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2500 Stinson Drive, 3105 Burlington Engineering Labs, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7909 (United States)
A potential deployment strategy for Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) is in hybrid energy systems where the presence of intermittent energy sources (wind and/or solar) subjects the reactor to a time varying electric load (1). Proposed options for accommodating this load have included operating the reactor in a load follow mode, or operating the reactor at or near steady state and bypassing steam around the turbine directly to the condenser (2). Both of these strategies result in lost energy potential. With the large financial investment associated with a nuclear power plant there is strong economic incentive to run the plant at maximum capacity. One method to accomplish this is the installation of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) that can be charged when grid demand is less than 100% plant capacity. The thermal energy can then be recovered, either as a supplement to the power plant during peak demand times, or can be used for other processes (1). Sensible heat thermal energy storage systems have been proposed for solar energy systems (3). This paper describes such a system for SMRs. These results show the feasibility of a TES system alongside a nuclear power plant that can limit load following operations for the reactor. Load following results in a decrease of capacity factor for the plant along with imposing significant stresses to plant equipment. With the implementation of a TES system these stresses can be transferred from the nuclear plant to the TES system. Not only does this equate to a longer overall life of the plant's hardware, but it also will dramatically increase the capacity factor of the system. This increase in capacity factor will lead to an improved economic return over the lifespan of the reactor. Future development in the near term will focus on coupling the TES system to the dynamic response of the reactor and energy conversion system and developing the models necessary to implement the discharge mode. (authors)
- OSTI ID:
- 22991835
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 114, Issue 1; Conference: Annual Meeting of the American Nuclear Society, New Orleans, LA (United States), 12-16 Jun 2016; Other Information: Country of input: France; 3 refs.; Available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 United States; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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