Steam Accumulator Storage Integration into a Nuclear Power Plant
- University of Texas at Austin, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program, 1 University Station C2200, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
The growth of non-dispatchable renewables benefits technologies with flexible load capabilities. Baseload technologies must accept low prices and revenues during low-demand periods that arise with increasing frequency as renewables deployment grows. For this reason, generators such as combined cycle gas turbines threaten to out-compete baseload, and nuclear power plants are facing early retirement. If utilities are to consider future nuclear power plants to be attractive investments they must excel at roles other than baseload generation. Energy storage offers a means to avoid times of low prices and capitalize on times of high prices, as well as for nuclear to participate in ancillary markets and provide grid stability and regulation services. This paper explores the use of steam accumulators to store energy for a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The discharging steam from the accumulator provides heat to a feedwater heater, replacing steam, which bleeds off of the high-pressure turbine during normal operation. The utilization of the accumulator as a heat source for the feedwater heater increases the electrical power output of the PWR during discharge, as more electricity can be produced for a constant thermal input from the steam generator. This study first presents the proposed layout of the steam accumulator integrated into a PWR and the base case values used. Next a brief overview of the thermodynamic model governing the charging and discharging processes of the accumulator is presented. An economic model describes the capital cost estimation and revenue potential for the system. These models are evaluated at varying values of energy, power, and pipe lengths. Results show the relationship between energy, power, and accumulator size, and their effect on net annual revenue and storage efficiency. The cases presented here provide direction for future work for optimizing the size and power output of the accumulator.
- OSTI ID:
- 23050275
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 116; Conference: 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Nuclear Society, San Francisco, CA (United States), 11-15 Jun 2017; Other Information: Country of input: France; 4 refs.; available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US); ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
CAPITALIZED COST
COMBINED CYCLES
COST ESTIMATION
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRICITY
ENERGY STORAGE
FEEDWATER HEATERS
GAS TURBINES
HEAT SOURCES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
OPTIMIZATION
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REGULATIONS
STEAM GENERATORS
THERMODYNAMIC MODEL
THERMODYNAMICS