A comparative study of alternative power cycles for small modular reactors

Kissick, Sean; Wang, Hailei

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2021.114734

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…More details of its thermodynamic performance and design optimization can be found in the reference. 2 1.2 | Supercritical CO 2 cycles Supercritical CO 2 (sCO 2 ) has received significant research interest in the last decade. This is due to its potentially wide applications in nuclear and solar energy, its lower cost potential, safety enhancements, and low global warming potential.…”

Section: Rankine Reheat Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…More details of the cycle design, thermodynamic performance and the initial design optimization can be found in reference. 2…”

Section: Transcritical Ethanol Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…More details about the design parameters and their value constraints, rotating component efficiencies, and the optimization method can be found here. 2…”

Section: Levelized Cost Of Electricitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…recent thermodynamic analysis has also shown comparable thermal efficiency by several alternative energy conversion systems on the secondary side, which can bring additional economic advantages given their simplified designs, reduced expansion stages and increased condensing pressures. 2 Figure 1 shows the predicted first-law efficiency (thermal efficiency) of various power cycles for light-water SMRs.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The following F I G U R E 1 First law efficiencies for alternative power cycles. The highlighted regenerative Rankine cycle is the baseline cycle used by the current SMR 2 section provides a brief overview of these three alternative power cycles for the light-water SMR design.…”

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Techno‐Economic analysis of alternative power cycles for Light‐Water small modular reactors

Kissick

Wang

2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary Rankine (steam) cycle traditionally has been the exclusive energy conversion system (the secondary side) for nuclear power plants based on light‐water reactors (the primary side). In an effort to improve the economics of nuclear as a clean, sustainable energy source, various small modular reactor designs have been developed and some have been scheduled to deploy at the end of this decade. In this work, technoeconomic analysis is conducted for three alternative power cycles for the light‐water small modular reactor by NuScale Power, which include a regenerative reheat Rankine cycle, a transcritical ethanol cycle and a recompression supercritical CO2 cycle. The results have shown the baseline regenerative Rankine cycle is a good fit for the current small modular reactor due to its attractive cycle efficiency (31.2%), low cost and relatively simple design. Using the selected first‐order cost models, the costs for the major power cycle components including turbines, compressors, pumps, and heat exchangers, as well as the levelized cost of electricity for each cycle are estimated. The results show both the regenerative reheat Rankine cycle and transcritical ethanol cycle would provide higher cycle efficiencies (33.1% and 33.9%) and a lower levelized cost of electricity (5.14% and 4.96% reduction from the baseline, respectively), while the recompression supercritical CO2 cycle has a lower thermal efficiency (29.8%) while a higher levelized cost of electricity (21.8% increase from the baseline). As the result, the recompression supercritical CO2 cycle is not suitable as the energy conversion system for light‐water small modular reactors. HIGHLIGHTS Technoeconomic analysis of three alternative power cycles for a small modular light‐water reactor is conducted. Cost models for major components are comparatively selected for calculating levelized cost of electricity for each alternative power cycle. Supercritical CO2 cycle is not suitable for light‐water SMRs based on the technoeconomic analysis. The transcritical ethanol cycle and regenerative reheat Rankine cycle have shown higher thermal efficiency and lower levelized cost of electricity than the baseline regenerative Rankine cycle.

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Section: Rankine Reheat Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…More details of the cycle design, thermodynamic performance and the initial design optimization can be found in reference. 2…”

Section: Transcritical Ethanol Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

“…More details about the design parameters and their value constraints, rotating component efficiencies, and the optimization method can be found here. 2…”

Section: Levelized Cost Of Electricitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Techno‐Economic analysis of alternative power cycles for Light‐Water small modular reactors

Kissick

Wang

2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Off‐design performance of supercritical carbon dioxide cycle combined with organic Rankine cycle for maritime nuclear propulsion system under different control strategies

Yang

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary A combined power conversion system, which consists of a supercritical carbon dioxide recompression cycle with an organic Rankine cycle as the bottoming cycle, has broad potential for maritime propulsion applications. However, the performance of the combined system under the off‐design condition and operating states of compressors with a wide range of load variations and different control strategies have not been comprehensively investigated. Therefore, a simulation model for the combined system under off‐design conditions is established in the present study to investigate the compressors operating states and the performance of the system under different control strategies. The result shows that a peak efficiency of 42.82% and total production unit cost of 11.6 $/GJ are achieved at the design point for the combined system, where the pressure ratio, flow split ratio, and evaporating pressure are 2.7, 0.27, and 770 kPa, respectively. When the relative load varies from 100% to 10%, the efficiency of the inventory‐controlled system decreases by 19.07%, and the efficiency of the bypass‐controlled system decreases by 34.3%. For the 10% load scenario, the compressors tend to surge under the inventory‐controlled strategy and approach the choke area under the bypass‐controlled strategy. The adoption of the inventory‐bypass hybrid control strategy keeps the compressors of the low‐load system away from the surge and choke areas, and the efficiency is between those of the systems controlled by the two separate strategies.

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Superstructure design and optimization on closed Brayton cycle system of fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature advanced reactor

YUN

Zhang

et al. 2023

Applied Energy

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A comparative study of alternative power cycles for small modular reactors

Cited by 12 publications

References 20 publications

Techno‐Economic analysis of alternative power cycles for Light‐Water small modular reactors

Techno‐Economic analysis of alternative power cycles for Light‐Water small modular reactors

Off‐design performance of supercritical carbon dioxide cycle combined with organic Rankine cycle for maritime nuclear propulsion system under different control strategies

Superstructure design and optimization on closed Brayton cycle system of fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature advanced reactor

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