Economics of nuclear district heating from the utility's point of view

Conference · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1978 · Nucl. Technol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5060585

Timm, M

The economy of combined nuclear power stations generating electric power and district heat is evaluated by comparing their generation costs with those of conventional fossil-fired dual-purpose stations. Realistic assumptions on several technical and economic variables and parameters (heat/power ratio, investment and fuel costs, heat transport costs) for both the nuclear and the conventional alternative were derived from the present situation and for the foreseeable future. Only light water reactor technology, with its safety standard presently approved only for remote location, was considered, therefore causing the necessity of long-distance heat transport. If only the generation costs are considered, the results show that from the economic point of view the nuclear plants are competitive with the fossil-fired stations. However, if the costs are added for the long-distance transport of nuclear heat, this economic advantage is rapidly compensated by the transport costs with increasing distance. Only very large nuclear plants--not suitable for the size of presently existing distribution systems--can economically overcome the minimum safety distance of 20 to 30 km.

• Research Organization: Hamburgische Electrictaets-Werke, Ger.
• OSTI ID: 5060585
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Nucl. Technol.; (United States) Journal Volume: 38:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210900* -- Nuclear Power Plants-- Process Heat Reactors-- (-1987)
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COST
DISTRICT HEATING
DUAL-PURPOSE POWER PLANTS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
HEAT
HEATING
POWER PLANTS
PROCESS HEAT
PUBLIC UTILITIES
THERMAL POWER PLANTS