Comparison of Energy Storage and Arbitrage Options for Nuclear Power

Technical Report · Thu Sep 28 04:00:00 EDT 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2310901· OSTI ID:2310901

Root, Samuel Jacob ^[1]; Knighton, L. Todd ^[1]; Cheng, Wen-Chi ^[1]; Larsen, Levi Morin ^[1]; Sweeney, Kathleen Patricia ^[1]; Boardman, Richard D. ^[1]; McKellar, Michael ^[2]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. University of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States)

Nuclear power is the most reliable source of clean energy and plays a crucial role in decarbonization efforts and national energy security. Achievement of Net-Zero targets depends on the deployment of new Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) – both advanced reactors and large-scale Light-Water Reactors (LWRs) – as well as continuing operations at existing LWR plants. The Light-Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program seeks to extend the lifetime of existing NPPs and improve their economic performance through research into plant modernization, Flexible Plant Operation and Generation (FPOG), risk-informed systems analysis, materials research, and physical security. The FPOG pathway investigates alternative revenue streams for LWRs. When electricity prices are driven low by an oversupply of renewable energy, steam and electricity from an NPP can be used to make value-added products while taking advantage of the low energy price; alternatively, this cheap energy can be stored chemically, electrically, or thermally, and used to regenerate-generate electricity at a later time when energy demand, and therefore the wholesale price of electricity, is higher in an economic concept called arbitrage. The purpose of this report is to investigate energy storage technologies that can store 500 MW of electricity from an LWR for a wide spectrum of durations.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 2310901
• Report Number(s): INL/RPT--23-74644-Rev000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
Light-Water Reactor Sustainability
Nuclear Power Plant