Nuclear Cogeneration

Transcription

1 Nuclear Cogeneration International Workshop on Acceleration and Applications of Heavy Ions 26 February - 10 March 2012 Heavy Ion Laboratory, Warsaw, Poland Ludwik Pieńkowski Heavy Ion Laboratory University of Warsaw Why the need to keep and to expand nuclear energy? Nuclear energy plays an important role today in the world energy production There are more than 400 commercial nuclear power reactors with 370 GWe of total power and they provide about 15% of the world's electricity Nuclear power is cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation CO2 emission free technology It would be very costly to replace nuclear power by other technologies in a near future The expansion of nuclear power is necessary in order to keep alive the nuclear energy market

2 The key challenges of nuclear energy High capital costs for building the new plants Currently only large reactors are available Spent fuel, high-level nuclear waste There are currently no permanent solutions The main subject of public debate Limited resources of uranium Challenge, but not for current fleet Nuclear safety Absolute priority Risk of nuclear proliferation Nuclear energy expansion will raise concerns primary barriers to growth Short term actions to keep and expand nuclear energy Extend the useful life of existing nuclear power plants Public support for new nuclear power plant construction R&D, new technologies There are no simple solutions Two times smaller plant is not two times less expensive Revolutionary technologies, like nuclear fusion, are long-term visions Small and medium size reactors (SMR) capital cost reduction at least partial response in other challenging fields Fast reactors To Close nuclear fuel cycle Overcome limiting uranium resources and nuclear spent fuel problem Fuel cycle technologies including spent fuel managing R&D, new market Nuclear cogeneration Useful thermal energy and electrical energy simultaneous production Nuclear process heat for industry

3 Economy of scale Example: the family car A bus offers the lowest transportation cost per person But More capacity than needed Very costly to purchase Very costly to operate and maintain Too big for the garage Daniel Ingersoll Oak Ridge National Laboratory ingersolldt@ornl.gov SMR Economic Benefits Total project cost Smaller plants should be cheaper Improves financing options and lowers financing cost May be the driving consideration in some circumstances Cost of electricity Economy-of-scale (EOS) works against smaller plants but can be mitigated by other economic factors Accelerated learning, shared infrastructure, design simplification, factory replication Investment risk Maximum cash outlay is lower and more predictable Maximum cash outlay can be lower even for the same generating capacity UC-Berkeley - Nov 9, 2009

4 SMRs - cash flow Revenue (US$ million) Comparison of 1 x 1340 MWe Plant Versus 4 x 335 MWe Plant SMR1 SMR Construction SMR2 SMR3 SMR4 Based on simplified model Max Cash Outlay = $1.4B LR Construction Max Cash Outlay = $2.7B Years From Start of Construction M.D. Carelli et al. / Progress in Nuclear Energy 52 (2010) Factors offsetting the economy of scale penalty Economy of Scale: Assumes SMR is scaled version of large plant Relative SMR Overnight Cost Multiple Units Learning Build Schedule & Unit Timing Plant Design Multiple Units: Cost savings for multiple units at same site Economy of Scale Learning: Cost savings for additional units built in series Build Schedule: Reduced interest during shorter construction time Unit Timing: Cost savings from better fit of new capacity to demand growth Plant Design: Cost savings from design simplifications x Plant Capacity (MWe) M.D. Carelli et al. / Progress in Nuclear Energy 52 (2010)

5 SMR safety benefit - decay heat Heat produced by decay of radioactive nuclei Decay heat is generated even if fission chain reaction is stopped This was the source of problems in Fukushima Is it possible to build a reactor that is safe when you turn off? Yes, but this required evacuation of the heat by natural processes Reactor power is proportional to the volume, to R 3 Reactor surface is proportional to R 2 Larger reactor is cheaper (scale effect) Smaller reactor is safer

6 JAEA starts test series to demonstrate safety characteristics of HTGR under loss of core cooling transients Dec. 22, 2010 First test of the loss of core flow tests has been finished JAEA has started the test series to demonstrate safety characteristics of high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) using HTTR. The core flow rate of the HTTR stopped to decrease core cooling capacity remarkably by stopping all primary gas circulator under 30% of reactor power (9MW) on December 21, The reactor power decrease rapidly without abnormal fuel temperature rise and the reactor was kept steady state. The test is called loss of core flow test. The test was the first test of the test series. ( ) The loss of core cooling tests is the first test in the world. High Temperature Reactor (HTR) ANTARES AREVA design High temperature HTR are the only reactors that can produce in the short term high temperature heat (750 o C) required by industrial processes Flexibility Cogeneration of electricity and process heat Modular concept Sustainability Opportunity for burning uranium, plutonium, thorium and minor actinides Huge resources, limited waste Passive safety concept Natural phenomena keep the reactor in safe conditions including in emergency situations Fully ceramic core No physical possibility to melt the core

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9 SMR Applications Electricity generation Smaller utilities with low demand growth Regions/countries with small grid capacity Installations requiring independent power Non-baseload possibilities Non-electrical power needs Potable water production (desalinations Advanced oil recovery for tar sands and oil shale Hydrogen production Advanced energy conversion such as coal-to-liquids conversion or synfuels District heating UC-Berkeley - Nov 9, 2009

10 Energy market overview US case 45% of all Energy Services nuclear only indirectly, electricity Process heat for industry today, space for nuclear cogeneration US case America's Energy Future: Technology and Transformation (2009) Trilion Btu 24 mln tons of oil

11 Petrochemical industry feed, cogeneration (electricity and steam), products electricity and steam production consume ~10% of oil HTR and nuclear cogeneration to improve productivity Nuclear cogeneration; reference plant design NGNP Project Technology Development Roadmaps:Technical Path Forward for C Reactor Outlet Temper ature INL/EXT , August 2009,

12 (16.5 MPa, 540 oc) NYMEX Natural Gas Prices 5 Years 1 MMBtu 28 m3 SECONDARY GAS BYPASS REACTOR CAVITY COOLING SYSTEM (RCCS) TANKS Status of HTR development in the world COMPRESSOR 2015 HEAT RECOVERY STEAM GENERATOR (HRSG) GAS TURBINE MODULE FUEL STORAGE AREA FUEL TRANSFER TUNNEL RCCS HEADERS AND STANDPIPES REACTOR VESSEL INTERMEDIATE HEAT EXCHANGER (IHX) GENERATOR MAIN TRANSFORMER CONDENSER COOLING WATER Russia: GT-MHR project L.P. TURBINE SECONDARY GASISOLATION VALVES (TYPICAL) H.P./I.P. TURBINE CONDENSER China: HTR-PM, industrial prototype, 2x250 MWth, commissioning 2013 France: ANTARES programme for a CHP system, 600 MWth China: HTR-10, test reactor, 10MWth, in operation since 2000 Korea: NHDD project R&D Very High Temperature Reactor Euratom countries U.S.A. Canada France Japan VHTR Steering Committee Japan: HTTR test reactor, 30MWth, in operation since 1998 South Korea Switzerland United Kingdom South Africa China Japan: GTTR 300, 600 MWth South Africa: PBMR 400 MWth, USA: NGNP, industrial prototype for CHP and hydrogen production

13 HTR programme in US Next Generation Nuclear Plant 15 February 2012 AREVA modular reactor selected for NGNP development Present European strategy for nuclear development Light Water Reactors (LWR) Currently available technology for industrial applications LWR providers and users identify the main development streams Fast systems with closed fuel cycles Long term development to give the response on limited uranium resources and spent fuel reprocessing demand Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET- Plan), issued by the European Commission in 2007: Europe needs to act now, together, to deliver sustainable, secure and competitive energy European Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNE-TP) recognized HTR as one of the major R&D pillars European project led by France. The prototype Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) is expected around 2020 High Temperature Reactors (HTR) for process heat, electricity and hydrogen production

14 European experience in HTR technology Europe built HTR up to the industrial prototype scale DRAGON (U.K.) AVR (FRG) EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS THTR (FRG) DEMONSTRATION OF BASIC HTR TECHNOLOGY MODULAR CONCEPT Europe developed the technology of components for industrial process heat applications 10 MW mock-up of a He-He heat exchanger 10 MW steam CH 4 reformer mock-up for nuclear application European programme launched in September 2009 Reactor HTR Heat T=750 o C cogeneration electricity and process heat electricity steam Industrial Complex Main task: EUROPAIRS should aim at initiating an international consensus on the conditions for industrial emergence of nuclear cogeneration Heat T 750 o C Additional task: R&D strategy R&D hydrogen production, new technologies

15 EUROPAIRS partnership including observers

16 Demonstrator project schedule and cost Thermal power of the demonstrator: 250 MW Operating temperature up to 800 C Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11 Y12 REACTOR R&D Conceptual design Preliminary design Final design Construction Startup and testing Total reactor Additional cost for advanced larger reactor APPLICATIONS R&D Conceptual design Preliminary design Final design Construction Startup and testing Total applications Total Preparatory phase, 5 years ~ 600 M Impulse from technology developers Construction phase, 7 years ~ 2700 M Industrial process heat user leadership Continuous cooperation between technology developers and industrial heat users To alleviate European public effort, progressive involvement of Public Private Partnership International Cooperation Vision of the nuclear coal synergy programme in Poland Programme constrains: Support to nuclear energy project in Poland First European HTR industrial scale demonstration available around The basis of the programme European experience in HTR technology Coal resources and chemical industry needs in Poland and in Europe What is important to start HTR European demonstration project in Poland? Intentions at the national level Energy Policy of Poland until 2030 Preparatory programme Decision to host the programme R&D long-term vision Chemical products

17 Summary A breakthrough of HTR in the energy market requires a large scale demonstration of the industrial feasibility of the coupling of such a nuclear reactor with process heat applications. This is possible in a period of time of years Europe has the technological potential to do it European industry needs CO 2 free and competitive process heat that HTR can provide Poland would benefit from this technology for coal processing. The first installation requires large R&D and combined licensing for a nuclear reactor and an industrial plant In order to minimize development risks, large international cooperation with other HTR projects in the world should be looked for.