Heat Storage for Peak Power with Base-Load Rankine-Cycle LWRs nd Brayton-Cycle High-Temperature Reactors

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

OSTI ID:23050272

Forsberg, Charles ^[1]

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1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139 (United States)

The world is transitioning to a low-carbon energy system. Variable electricity and industrial energy demands have been met with storable fossil fuels-systems with low-capital costs and high-operating costs. In contrast, the low-carbon energy sources (nuclear, wind and solar) are characterized by high-capital-costs and low-operating costs. High utilization is required to produce economic energy. The addition of large quantities of wind or solar changes the market. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Future of Solar Energy study provides an examination of the solar option and the challenge of moving from an electricity grid dominated by fossil fuel generation to a grid with significant solar capacity. As more solar plants are built, electricity prices at times of high solar output collapse; thus, solar revenue collapses as solar production increases. This limits unsubsidized solar capacity to a relatively small fraction of total electricity production even if there are large decreases in solar capital costs. The same occurs with the large-scale use of wind. This results in increasing number of hours of near-zero wholesale prices for electricity that has been seen in multiple electricity markets in Europe and the United States. This is bad economic news for nuclear, wind and solar for revenue collapse limits the use of low-carbon technologies. It favors lower-capital-cost higher-operating- cost natural gas plants with their capability to cycle up and down quickly. New technologies are required to store or use this electricity at times of low prices to produce electricity at times of high prices. We describe two strategies to improve nuclear power economics based on heat storage. Heat storage is less expensive than electricity storage. The reactor operates at full capacity all the time but the electricity to the grid varies with time depending upon electricity prices. Each option allows sending heat to industry.

• OSTI ID: 23050272
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 116; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
25 ENERGY STORAGE
BRAYTON CYCLE
CAPACITY
CAPITALIZED COST
CARBON
ELECTRICITY
ENERGY DEMAND
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FUEL SYSTEMS
HEAT
HEAT STORAGE
NATURAL GAS
NUCLEAR POWER
OPERATING COST
PEAK LOAD
RANKINE CYCLE
SOLAR ENERGY
WHOLESALE PRICES