Thermal and Electrical Power Delivery
Goal
The goal of this research is to develop designs for thermal and electrical power dispatch from both pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling water reactors (BWRs) that show the benefits and that appropriately bound technical, economic and regulatory risks. The designs include:
- Front-end engineering.
- Concept-of-operations.
- Capital and operating costs.
- Potential controls systems.
Outcome
The outcome of this research includes (1) conducting multiple 10-50 MW coupled electric and thermal power dispatch projects at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants; (2) completing detailed front-end engineering design studies at four LWR plants, with common features, to facilitate review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and (3) completing topical reports that describe concepts of operations for combined thermal and electric power dispatch from PWRs and BWRs with detailed information on potential controls systems and results of simulator tests completed using human operators-in-the-loop. The topical reports will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Planned major accomplishments
- Detailed conceptual designs for coupling 100 MWnom and 500 MWnom high-temperature electrolysis hydrogen production plants to representative PWRs and BWRs including cost estimates and descriptions of the control system approach.
- Preconceptual designs for dispatching 30%, 50% and 70-100% of the reactor thermal power from a representative PWR and BWR.
- Tests performed by licensed nuclear power plant operators using modified full-scope nuclear power plant simulators that validate concepts of operations for thermal and electric power dispatch from both PWRs and BWRs. Operator tests will include real-time tests of normal transient operations, such as startup and shutdown of integrated thermal and electric power dispatch, as well as responses to off-normal scenarios, such as steam line ruptures and loss-of-load events.
