Design and Operation of a Sensible Heat Peaking Unit for Small Modular Reactors
Design and Operation of a Sensible Heat Peaking Unit for Small Modular Reactors
复制标题
小型模块化反应堆显热调峰装置的设计与运行
作者：
Konor L Frick;J. Doster;S. Bragg‐Sitton
摘要美国大约19%的电力来自核电站。传统上，核电厂以及较大的燃煤电厂以基本负荷的方式在稳态或接近稳态下长时间运行。更小的、更可替代的工厂，如燃气发电厂，被派去满足电力供应和需求，超过基本负荷工厂的能力。然而，尽管目前天然气成本较低，但空气质量问题和二氧化碳排放标准使得化石燃料的燃烧变得不那么可取。风能和太阳能光伏发电是有吸引力的选择，因为它们缺乏碳足迹和资本成本下降。然而，这些可再生能源具有固有的不稳定性。这种固有的不稳定性会使电网紧张，迫使碳基能源和核能源以负载跟随模式运行。对于核反应堆，由于施加在燃料和其他反应堆部件上的相关热应力和机械应力，负载跟踪操作可能是不期望的。各种热能存储（TES）方法可以与核（或可再生）电源耦合，以帮助吸收由每日负荷需求变化和可再生能源不稳定性引起的电网变化。我们之前的研究表明，将显热TES系统耦合到小型模块化反应堆，可以通过在产能过剩期间将蒸汽旁路到TES系统，使反应堆在电力需求可变期间以有效的标称满功率运行。在本文中，我们证明，这种存储的热能可以回收，使TES系统作为一个高峰期的电力需求或用于生产辅助应用，如海水淡化的蒸汽单元。对于这两种应用，反应器能够在大约100%功率下连续操作。
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 have made the burning of fossil fuels less desirable, despite the current low cost of natural gas. Wind and solar photovoltaic 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 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 paper 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.