How to manage flexible nuclear power plants in a deregulated electricity market from the point of view of social welfare?

Dynamic Modeling and Control Characteristics of the Two-Modular HTR-PM Nuclear Plant

“…, ) and temperature of the reflector r . The total nodal reactivity is given as [24] = r, + ( f, + m, ) ( c, − c0, ) + r ( r − r0 ) , (2) where r, is the nodal reactivity provided by the control rods, f, and m, are, respectively, the reactivity coefficients of the fuel and moderator inside node i, r is the reactivity coefficient of the average reflector temperature, and c0, and r0 are, respectively, the initial temperature of the fuel inside node and that of the reflector. Since the reflector is very thick, and since the metal core support structure is cooled by the cold helium with its temperature no more than 250 ∘ C, the reactivity feedback induced by the support structure is omitted here, which has been verified by the MHTGR physical and thermal-hydraulic design.…”

“…Thus, nuclear fission energy is a crucial clean energy for giving basis products such as electricity, fresh water, and process heat and for addressing the challenges associated with global climate and environmental impact [1,2]. Actually, nuclear energy may substitute the fossil in a centralized way and in a great amount with commercial availability and economic competitiveness [3].…”

“…Due to the low power density and large heat capacity, some SMRs even have the inherent safety feature which prevents SMRs from the hazards of core-melting, radiological release, and LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident). With loadfollowing function, SMRs can be incorporated with renewable energy sources to build hybrid energy systems (HESs) having the virtues such as persistent power supply and free refueling [1,2]. By adopting multimodular operation strategy [ 7], that is, multiple nuclear steam supplying system (NSSS) modules feeding steam to common thermal load equipment such as the turbine/generator set, the inherent safety feature of a SMR can be applicable to large-scale nuclear plants at any desired power ratings, which could be beneficial in providing electricity to remote areas without transmission or distribution infrastructure, in generating local power for a large population center and in being viable for specific applications such as heat sources for the industrial complexes.…”

Modeling and Control of Fluid Flow Networks with Application to a Nuclear-Solar Hybrid Plant

“…From Figures 2-5, if the live steam parameters of different NSSS modules are identical, then these modules can be integrated by parallel operation, based on which the strong safety feature of SMRs can be applicable to large-scale nuclear plants at any desired power ratings. energy system is called a hybrid energy system (HES) [16][17][18] if the heat sources of OTHSS modules are of different types, otherwise it is called a multimodular energy system. FFNs can be used to build multimodular nuclear plants based on small modular reactor (SMRs) which are defined to be those fission reactors with electric power no more than 300 MWe.…”

“…Actually, OTHSS are very common in practical engineering such as the integral pressurized water reactors (iPWR, e.g., Nuscale, IRIS and mPower) with internal OTSGs [3][4][5][6], modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR, e.g., HTR-Module [7][8][9], MHTGR [10] and HTR-PM [11][12][13]) with side-by-side arranged OTSGs, concentrating solar power (CSP) plants with OTSGs [14] or OTHXs [15] and even coal-fired once-through boilers. A thermally interconnected distributed energy system is called a hybrid energy system (HES) [16][17][18] if the heat sources of OTHSS modules are of different types, otherwise it is called a multimodular energy system. FFNs can be used to build multimodular nuclear plants based on small modular reactor (SMRs) which are defined to be those fission reactors with electric power no more than 300 MWe.…”