Light Water Reactors with Crushed Rock Thermal Storage for Industrial Heat and High-Value Electricity

Forsberg, Charles W.; Curtis, Daniel; Stack, Daniel C.

doi:10.1080/00295450.2017.1294426

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…LWRs use a huge, crushed rock thermal storage system with capacities of gigawatt-hours to provide steam for the industry, variable electricity to the grid, and hot air for industrial furnace. 201,202 This storage system exploits the excess energy from the reactors in the form of steam and electricity as an energy input. In this way, electricity is produced when the price is low to be later sold at a higher rate.…”

Section: Light Water Reactors (Lwrs): Crushed Rock Thermal Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Progress on rock thermal energy storage (RTES): A state of the art review

Amiri

Ermagan

Kurnia

et al. 2023

Energy Science & Engineering

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Thermal energy is one of the most widely encountered energy forms in our daily life. To ensure efficient utilization and conversion of this energy, the balance between supply and demand needs to be maintained. For this purpose, thermal energy storage is required. There are various thermal energy storage systems available; one of the most basic is sensible thermal energy storage which includes rock thermal energy storage (RTES). This rock‐based energy storage has recently gained significant attention due to its capability to hold large amounts of thermal energy, relatively simple storage mechanism and low cost of storage medium. Accordingly, numerous studies have been conducted to elucidate the basic flow and heat transfer mechanism and to evaluate the performance of this energy storage. The major technical challenges hindering the wide adoption of this technology are the enormous pressure drop across the storage and nonoptimal heat transfer from the heat transfer fluid to the storage medium and vice versa. These issues will directly and indirectly affect the overall cost (capital, operational, and maintenance costs) of the system. To eliminate this issue and assist further development of this technology, it is crucial to compile and extract important findings from these previous studies, identify the challenge and research gap, and draw guidelines for the upcoming research and development. At the moment, this kind of compilation does not exist. Hence, this paper is prepared with the primary objective to comprehensively review the current technology and development of RTES and to propose a potential way forward based on the pain point identified. Discussion on the nontechnical aspect such as policy and regulations as well as community awareness will also be outlined and discussed.

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Section: Light Water Reactors (Lwrs): Crushed Rock Thermal Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Progress on rock thermal energy storage (RTES): A state of the art review

Amiri

Ermagan

Kurnia

et al. 2023

Energy Science & Engineering

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“…In a hot-rock energy storage system 53,54 a volume of crushed rock with air ducts at the top and bottom is created (Fig. 5).…”

Section: Iva2c Air-heated Hot-rock Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Variable and Assured Peak Electricity Production from Base-Load Light-Water Reactors with Heat Storage and Auxiliary Combustible Fuels

Forsberg

2018

Nuclear Technology

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In a low-carbon world (nuclear, wind, solar, and hydro) there is the need for assured dispatchable electricity to replace the historical role of fossil fuels. Base-load reactors can provide variable electricity to the grid by (1) sending some of their output (steam) to storage at times of low electricity prices and (2) using stored heat to produce added peak electricity at times of high electricity prices. Heat storage (steam accumulators, sensible heat, etc.) is less expensive than electricity storage (batteries, hydro pumped storage, etc.). The added cost of incrementally larger or standalone turbine generators for peak electricity production is small. However, energy storage systems (heat or electricity) can't provide assured capacity for extreme events, be it supply side (extended low-wind or low-solar conditions in systems with high wind or solar capacity) or demand side (long periods of cold or hot weather). With heat storage systems there is the option to provide peak electricity output when heat storage is depleted by heat addition with a water-tube boiler using natural gas, biofuels, or ultimately hydrogen. Fuel consumption for assured peaking capacity is small because most of the time the heat storage system meets peak electricity demands. The same systems enable reliable low-cost heat production for industry. Such systems enable an all nuclear or nuclear/hydro/ wind/solar/geothermal low-carbon electricity grid.

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“…• Heat Storage in Steam Cycles. There is ongoing work by universities, vendors, and utilities to incorporate heat storage with assured peak electricity-generating capacity into LWR steam cycles [Forsberg 2017b, Forsberg 2018a, Forsberg 2018b. The same systems apply to Gen IV reactors, except that one is using high-temperature rather than saturated steam.…”

Section: Technology Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No work has been done on hot-rock storage coupled to an HTGR. There have been studies of hotrock storage coupled to light water reactors [Forsberg 2017b, McLachlan 2018. Several versions of this technology are under development for different purposes.…”

Section: Hot-rock Heat Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Heat Storage Options for Sodium, Salt and Helium Cooled Reactors to Enable Variable Electricity to the Grid and Heat to Industry with Base-Load Reactor Operations

Forsberg

Sabharwall

2018

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Electricity markets are changing rapidly because of (1) the addition of wind and solar and (2) the goal of a low-carbon electricity grid. These changes result in times of high electricity prices and very low or negative electricity prices. California has seen its first month where more than 20% of the time (mid-day) the wholesale price of electricity was zero or negative. This creates large incentives for coupling heat storage to advanced reactors to enable variable electricity and industrial-heat output (maximize revenue) while the reactor operates at base load (minimize cost).Recent studies have examined coupling various types of heat storage to Rankine and Brayton power cycles. However, there has been little examination of heat-storage options between (1) the reactor and (2) the power-conversion system or industrial customer. Heat-storage systems can be incorporated into sodium, helium-, and salt-cooled reactors. Salt-cooled reactors include the fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) with its solid fuel and clean coolant and the molten salt reactor (MSR) with its fuel dissolved in the salt. For sodium and salt reactors, it is assumed that a heat-storage system would be in the secondary loop between the reactor and power cycle. For helium-cooled reactors, heat storage can be in the primary or secondary loop.This report is a first look at the rational and the heat storage options for deploying gigawatt-watt hour heat-storage systems with GenIV reactors. Economics and safety are the primary selection criteria. The leading heat-storage candidate for sodium-cooled systems (a low-pressure secondary system with small temperature drop across the reactor core) is steel in large tanks with the sodium flowing through channels to move heat in and out of storage. The design minimizes sodium volume in the storage and, thus, the risks and costs associated with sodium. For helium systems (high-pressure with large temperature drop across the core), the leading heat storage options are (1) varying the temperature of the reactor core, (2) steel or alumina firebrick in a secondary pressure vessel and (3) nitrate or hot-rock/firebrick at atmospheric pressure. For salt systems (low pressure, high temperatures, and small temperature drop across the reactor core) the leading heat-storage systems are secondary salts. In each case, options are identified and questions to be addressed are identified.In some cases there is a strong coupling between the heat-storage technology and the power cycle. The leading sodium heat-storage technology may imply changes in the power cycle. High-temperature salt systems couple efficiency to Brayton power cycles that may create large incentives for the heat storage to remain within the power cycle rather than in any intermediate heat transfer loop.iv v CANES PUBLICATIONSTopical and progress reports are published under seven series:

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Light Water Reactors with Crushed Rock Thermal Storage for Industrial Heat and High-Value Electricity

Cited by 7 publications

References 6 publications

Progress on rock thermal energy storage (RTES): A state of the art review

Progress on rock thermal energy storage (RTES): A state of the art review

Variable and Assured Peak Electricity Production from Base-Load Light-Water Reactors with Heat Storage and Auxiliary Combustible Fuels

Heat Storage Options for Sodium, Salt and Helium Cooled Reactors to Enable Variable Electricity to the Grid and Heat to Industry with Base-Load Reactor Operations

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