Prismatic-core advanced high temperature reactor and thermal energy storage coupled system – A preliminary design

Alameri, Saeed A.; King, Jeffrey C.; Alkaabi, Ahmed K.; Addad, Yacine

doi:10.1016/j.net.2019.07.028

Cited by 22 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The lower energy carrying capacity (compared to liquid coolants) results in an amplified temperature gradient between the inlet and the outlet streams of the reactors 112 . Another class of reactors are very high temperature reactors (VHTR); one of which is the prismatic‐core advanced high temperature reactor (PAHTR), 113 with a power rating of 300 MW and a 5 year operating cycle. It uses a tri‐structural isotropic particle (TRISO) as the fuel and 1000 TES blocks containing 11 000 tubes filled with molten LiCl 114 .…”

Section: Application Of Molten Salts In Nuclear‐thermal Energy Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Bhatnagar

Siddiqui

Sreedhar

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary Molten salts as thermal energy storage (TES) materials are gaining the attention of researchers worldwide due to their attributes like low vapor pressure, non‐toxic nature, low cost and flexibility, high thermal stability, wide range of applications etc. This review presents potential applications of molten salts in solar and nuclear TES and the factors influencing their performance. Ternary salts (Hitec salt, Hitec XL) are found to be best suited for concentrated solar plants due to their lower melting point and higher efficiency. Two‐tank direct energy storage system is found to be more economical due to the inexpensive salts (KCl‐MgCl2), while thermoclines are found to be more thermally efficient due to the power cycles involved and the high volumetric heat capacity of the salts involved (LiF‐NaF‐KF). Heat storage density has been given special focus in this review and methods to increase the same in terms of salt composition changes are discussed in the paper. Methods of concatenating energy storage systems with nuclear power plants are also discussed with different types of nuclear reactors like MHTGR, PAHTR, VHTR, etc. Nanomodifications of molten salts are done to improve heat transfer properties and efficiency of the transfer. The best dopants for such modifications were found to be TiO2, SiO2, MWCNTs, etc. Future challenges for large scale deployment of molten salts viz., high volume expansion ratio, low thermal conductivity, incongruent melting, corrosion, etc., are listed and discussed. Corrosion of molten salts and its mitigation has been discussed in detail for developing next‐generation storage systems and its remedies are also discussed.

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Section: Application Of Molten Salts In Nuclear‐thermal Energy Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Bhatnagar

Siddiqui

Sreedhar

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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“…Details about the AHTR core design can be retrieved from. 30,31 The coolant used in the AHTR is FLiBe (Li 2 BeF 4 ), a molten salt coolant. FLiBe has been selected for its favorable thermo-physic properties for heat transfer at high temperatures such as low melting point (459 C) and high boiling point (1400 C).…”

Section: Tes-npp Coupled System and Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this mode, the reactor is operating at constant load (constant mass flow rate of the FLiBe) while the power generation cycle is following a variable demand. To simulate the transient response of LiCl material throughout the course of a day, a typical daily power demand profile of the secondary cycle 30 is selected (see Figure 16A). Accordingly, as presented in Figure 16B, a variable mass flow rate is used for the helium flowing in the secondary cycle to follow the daily power demand profile.…”

Section: Scd Operation Mode With Variable Power Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical investigation of a vertical triplex‐tube latent heat storage/exchanger to achieve flexible operation of nuclear power plants

Ali

Alkaabi

Addad

2021

Intl J of Energy Research

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The current numerical investigation is carried out to assess the possibility of integrating a latent heat thermal energy storage (TES) in a nuclear power plant (NPP) system. This would allow improving the capability of such plants to operate in a load-following mode by eliminating the gap between energy supply and energy demand by the grid. In contrary to previously published TES designs, the phase change material (PCM) triplex-tube containers are vertically oriented in the present study to take advantage of melting/solidification enhancements induced by the buoyancy forces. In addition, two different fluids simultaneously co-circulating within the storage, hence, allowing for this component to operate as a storage system (under extreme charging/discharging conditions) or as simple heat exchanger (under normal steady-state conditions). The computational domain, in this study, is reduced from the full TES geometry to a single triplextube container owing to the homogeneous triangular positioning of the annular tubes within the storage vessel. The results show that the time required to fully melt the solid PCM is around 27 hours during charging mode, thus, allowing for a relatively long-time margin even under an extreme postulated accident scenario consisting in the inability of the secondary loop to remove heat from the system. In the opposite discharging mode, the time needed to fully solidify the 100% liquid PCM is 17 hours. During the simultaneous charging and discharging (SCD) mode, with constant load, the fraction of liquid PCM is nearly fixed with time. Hence, TES in this mode is said to take the role of a standard heat exchanger. Finally, simulations conducted for the SCD mode, with variable load, demonstrate that the coupled system can follow the daily variations in the grid demand without having any significant impact on the constant operation of the reactor. In this operating mode, the PCM is changing phases from solid to liquid and vice versa to adapt to the energy demand variations as anticipated.

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“…The nuclear power plants used as a source of electricity exacerbate the problem of balancing the generated and consumed power in the energy system. The reason for this is the low maneuverability of nuclear power plants, which is related to the safety issues of nuclear power plant operation due to the principles of operating nuclear reactors and restrictions [34,42,43]. Traditionally, nuclear power plants are not considered as a maneuverable source of energy supply [23,44].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat Storage as a Way to Increase Energy Efficiency and Flexibility of NPP in Isolated Power System

Lebedev,

Deev

2023

Applied Sciences

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This paper considers a thermal accumulator using phase transition materials as a way to increase the energy efficiency and maneuverability of nuclear power plants. A low-power nuclear power plant is the object of this study. Such nuclear power plants have a great potential for widespread implementation as sources of thermal and electrical energy for facilities of mineral and raw material as well as fuel and energy complexes located in distant regions. The main principles of development of low-power nuclear power plants are revealed. So, in the development of low-power nuclear power plants, experience in the creation and operation of shipboard nuclear power installations is widely used. The problems of NPP operation in daily maneuvering modes within an isolated power system are revealed. A method for improving the energy efficiency and maneuverability of nuclear power plants is proposed, in particular, through the use of thermal accumulators with a phase change material directly in the NPP circuit. A method of assessment of the dimensions of the heat accumulator and the amount of heat accumulating material is presented. A method of assessment of the efficiency of the accumulator application scheme is presented. The thermal scheme of a promising low-power nuclear power plant with an RITM-200 reactor is compiled. A scheme for switching on a heat accumulator with a phase change material to a scheme for regenerative heating of a turbine is proposed. The heat storage material selection is made, the main elements and characteristics of such an accumulator are determined, and the parameters of the heat transfer fluid’s movement through the accumulator are determined. A mathematical model of the heat exchange in an accumulator based on the finite difference method is compiled, and the simulation results are presented. The results of the experimental verification of the model are presented. As a result of the calculation of NPPs’ thermal schemes in the standard version and the version with a heat accumulator, the power increase in the turbine plant due to the application of accumulated heat in the accumulator discharge mode is determined.

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Prismatic-core advanced high temperature reactor and thermal energy storage coupled system – A preliminary design

Cited by 22 publications

References 8 publications

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Numerical investigation of a vertical triplex‐tube latent heat storage/exchanger to achieve flexible operation of nuclear power plants

Heat Storage as a Way to Increase Energy Efficiency and Flexibility of NPP in Isolated Power System

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