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Title: Design and Operation of a Sensible Heat Peaking Unit for Small Modular Reactors

Abstract

Approximately 19% of the electricity produced in the United States comes from nuclear power plants. Traditionally, nuclear power plants, as well as larger coal-fired plants, operate in a baseload manner at or near steady-state for prolonged periods of time. Smaller, more maneuverable plants, such as gas-fired plants, are dispatched to match electricity supply and demand above the capacity of the baseload plants. However, air quality concerns and CO2 emission standards has made the burning of fossil fuels less desirable, despite the current low cost of natural gas. Wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation are attractive options due to their lack of carbon footprint and falling capital costs. Yet, these renewable energy sources suffer from inherent intermittency. This inherent intermittency can strain electric grids, forcing carbon-based and nuclear sources of energy to operate in a load follow mode. For nuclear reactors, load follow operation can be undesirable due to the associated thermal and mechanical stresses placed on the fuel and other reactor components. Various methods of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) can be coupled to nuclear (or renewable) power sources to help absorb grid variability caused by daily load demand changes and renewable intermittency. Our previous research has shown that couplingmore » a sensible heat TES system to a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) allows the reactor to run at effectively nominal full power during periods of variable electric demand by bypassing steam to the TES system during periods of excess capacity. In this study we demonstrate that this stored thermal energy can be recovered, allowing the TES system to act as a peaking unit during periods of high electric demand, or used to produce steam for ancillary applications such as desalination. For both applications the reactor is capable of operating continuously at approximately 100% power.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  2. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
OSTI Identifier:
1557660
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-18-45041-Rev000
Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC07-05ID14517
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Technology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 205; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis - formerly American Nuclear Society (ANS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; Thermal Energy Storage; Nuclear Hybrid Energy System; Integral Pressurized Water Reactor; Small Modular Reactor

Citation Formats

Frick, Konor, Doster, Joseph Michael, and Bragg-Sitton, Shannon. Design and Operation of a Sensible Heat Peaking Unit for Small Modular Reactors. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1080/00295450.2018.1491181.
Frick, Konor, Doster, Joseph Michael, & Bragg-Sitton, Shannon. Design and Operation of a Sensible Heat Peaking Unit for Small Modular Reactors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1491181
Frick, Konor, Doster, Joseph Michael, and Bragg-Sitton, Shannon. Thu . "Design and Operation of a Sensible Heat Peaking Unit for Small Modular Reactors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1491181. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1557660.
@article{osti_1557660,
title = {Design and Operation of a Sensible Heat Peaking Unit for Small Modular Reactors},
author = {Frick, Konor and Doster, Joseph Michael and Bragg-Sitton, Shannon},
abstractNote = {Approximately 19% of the electricity produced in the United States comes from nuclear power plants. Traditionally, nuclear power plants, as well as larger coal-fired plants, operate in a baseload manner at or near steady-state for prolonged periods of time. Smaller, more maneuverable plants, such as gas-fired plants, are dispatched to match electricity supply and demand above the capacity of the baseload plants. However, air quality concerns and CO2 emission standards has made the burning of fossil fuels less desirable, despite the current low cost of natural gas. Wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation are attractive options due to their lack of carbon footprint and falling capital costs. Yet, these renewable energy sources suffer from inherent intermittency. This inherent intermittency can strain electric grids, forcing carbon-based and nuclear sources of energy to operate in a load follow mode. For nuclear reactors, load follow operation can be undesirable due to the associated thermal and mechanical stresses placed on the fuel and other reactor components. Various methods of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) can be coupled to nuclear (or renewable) power sources to help absorb grid variability caused by daily load demand changes and renewable intermittency. Our previous research has shown that coupling a sensible heat TES system to a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) allows the reactor to run at effectively nominal full power during periods of variable electric demand by bypassing steam to the TES system during periods of excess capacity. In this study we demonstrate that this stored thermal energy can be recovered, allowing the TES system to act as a peaking unit during periods of high electric demand, or used to produce steam for ancillary applications such as desalination. For both applications the reactor is capable of operating continuously at approximately 100% power.},
doi = {10.1080/00295450.2018.1491181},
journal = {Nuclear Technology},
number = 3,
volume = 205,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Thu Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Cited by: 12 works
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Works referenced in this record:

Thermal Energy Storage Configurations for Small Modular Reactor Load Shedding
journal, February 2018


Engineering Database of Liquid Salt Thermophysical and Thermochemical Properties
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  • Sohal, Manohar S.; Ebner, Matthias A.; Sabharwall, Piyush
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Energy consumption by multi-stage flash and reverse osmosis desalters
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