At present many companies from the energy sector have to follow new regulations and concerns three crucial aspects of energy production: the impact on the environment, the efficiency of energy conversion and the cost of energy. From a technical point of view, the most efficient technology available today for electricity generation is based on a gas turbine combined cycle. In the present paper, an analysis of environmentally friendly, high-temperature gas nuclear reactor system coupled with gas turbine combined cycle technology has been investigated. The analysed system is one of the most advanced concepts and allow electricity generation with the higher thermal efficiency than could be offered by any currently existing nuclear power plant technology. The results show that it is possible to achieve thermal efficiency for nuclear power plant higher than 50% which is not only more than could be produced by any modern nuclear plant but it is also more than could be offered by most of the traditional power plants.
Nuclear energy is one of the possibilities ensuring energy security, environmental protection, and high energy efficiency. Among many newest solutions, special attention is paid to the medium size high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR) with wide possible applications in electric energy production and district heating systems. Actual progress can be observed in the literature and especially in new projects. The maximum outlet temperature of helium as the reactor cooling gas is about 1000 °C which results in the relatively low energy efficiency of the cycle not greater than 40–45% in comparison to 55–60% of modern conventional power plants fueled by natural gas or coal. A significant increase of energy efficiency of HTGR cycles can be achieved with the increase of helium temperature from the nuclear reactor using additional coolant heating even up to 1600 °C in heat exchanger/gas burner located before gas turbine. In this paper, new solution with additional coolant heating is presented. Thermodynamic analysis of the proposed solution with a comparison to the classical HTGR cycle will be presented showing a significant increase of energy efficiency up to about 66%.
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