Generation IV nuclear reactors: Current status and future prospects

Locatelli, Giorgio; Mancini, Mauro; Todeschini, Nicola

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.06.101

Cited by 330 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 111 publications

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“…The planned and on-going development of demonstrators for the GFR and VHTR relate to the testing of basic concepts and performance phases, validation, and verification. These are discussed in [2].…”

Section: Generation IV (Gen-iv) Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With reference to Figure 4 and Equations (40) and (41), the heat sink precooler outlet temperature is known as tp 2 and is shown as ratios of the hot gas to the cycle/compressor inlet temperature (T 1 ), as a function of the cycle/compressor inlet temperature (T 1 ). case for the IC as the curve suggests a constant hot gas.…”

Section: Heat Sink Outlet Temperaturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analyses of the Effect of Cycle Inlet Temperature on the Precooler and Plant Efficiency of the Simple and Intercooled Helium Gas Turbine Cycles for Generation IV Nuclear Power Plants

2017

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Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) precooler coolant temperature is critical to performance because it impacts the work required to increase the coolant pressure. Variation of the coolant temperature results in varied precooler hot gas temperatures, which are cooled before re-entry. For recirculation, the heat sink (usually sea water), could exit the precooler at unfavourable temperatures and impact the re-entering coolant, if not recirculated properly at the source. The study objective is to analyse the effects of coolant inlet temperature on the heat sink and cycle efficiency. The cycles are Simple Cycle Recuperated (SCR), Intercooler Cycle Recuperated (ICR), and Intercooled Cycle without Recuperation (IC). Results show that the co-current precooler provides favourable outlet heat sink temperatures but compromises compactness. For a similar technology level, the counter-current precooler yields excessive heat sink outlet temperatures due to a compact, robust, and efficient heat transfer design, but could be detrimental to precooler integrity due to corrosion, including the cycle performance, if not recirculated back into the sea effectively. For the counter-current, the ICR has the best heat sink average temperature ratio of 1.4; the SCR has 2.7 and IC has 3.3. The analyses aid the development of Gas Cooled Fast Reactors (GFRs) and Very High Temperature Reactors (VHTRs), where helium is used as the coolant.

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Section: Generation IV (Gen-iv) Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Heat Sink Outlet Temperaturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyses of the Effect of Cycle Inlet Temperature on the Precooler and Plant Efficiency of the Simple and Intercooled Helium Gas Turbine Cycles for Generation IV Nuclear Power Plants

2017

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“…However, the project did not result in actually building and operating an HTGR. In the case of energy neutral mineral processing, though it may be realized, HTGRs could be the first choice over other emerging HTR technology [131][132][133], such as the compact high temperature reactor (CHTR) [134,135], fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (FHR) [136][137][138][139], gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) [140][141][142], lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) [143][144][145], molten salt reactor (MSR) [146] and others that may deliver process heat at temperatures higher than or equal to 600 °C. Five countries: Great Britain, the U.S., Germany, Japan and China have experience with operating and thus licensing HTGRs.…”

Section: Identified Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

et al. 2018

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A number of primary ores such as phosphate rock, gold-, copper-and rare earth ores contain considerable amounts of accompanying uranium and other critical materials. Energy neutral mineral processing is the extraction of unconventional uranium during primary ore processing to use it, after enrichment and fuel production, to generate greenhouse gas lean energy in a nuclear reactor. Energy neutrality is reached if the energy produced from the extracted uranium is equal to or larger than the energy required for primary ore processing, uranium extraction, -conversion, -enrichment and -fuel production. This work discusses the sustainability of energy neutral mineral processing and provides an overview of the current progress of a multinational research project on that topic conducted under the umbrella of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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“…Therefore, a holistic assessment is needed to select the best type of nuclear reactor (Locatelli & Mancini 2012a) or base load technology (Locatelli & Mancini 2010). An overview of the techno-economic aspects of the so-called Generation IV reactor is provided in (Locatelli et al 2013). …”

Section: The Key Idea: Load Following By Cogenerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cogeneration: An option to facilitate load following in Small Modular Reactors

Locatelli

Fiordaliso

Boarin

et al. 2017

Progress in Nuclear Energy

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Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) have been historically deployed to cover the base-load of the electricity demand. Nowadays some NPPs might perform daily load cycling operation (i.e. load following) between 50% and 100% of their rated power. With respect to the insertion of control rods or comparable action to reduce the nuclear power generation, a more L F C of power, respect to the electricity demand, to an auxiliary system. A suitable cogeneration system needs:1. To have a demand of electricity and/or heat in the region of 500 MWt 1 GWt;2. To meet a significant market demand;3. To have access to adequate input to process; 4. To be flexible: cogeneration might operate at full load during the night when the request (of) for electricity is low, and be turned off during the daytime.From the economic standpoint, it is essential that the investment in the auxiliary system is profitable. This paper provides a techno-economic assessment of systems suitable for coupling with a NPP for load following. The results show that district heating, desalination and hydrogen might be technically and economically feasible.

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Generation IV nuclear reactors: Current status and future prospects

Cited by 330 publications

References 111 publications

Analyses of the Effect of Cycle Inlet Temperature on the Precooler and Plant Efficiency of the Simple and Intercooled Helium Gas Turbine Cycles for Generation IV Nuclear Power Plants

Analyses of the Effect of Cycle Inlet Temperature on the Precooler and Plant Efficiency of the Simple and Intercooled Helium Gas Turbine Cycles for Generation IV Nuclear Power Plants

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

Cogeneration: An option to facilitate load following in Small Modular Reactors

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