Heat Storage for Peak Power with Base-Load Rankine-Cycle LWRs and Brayton-Cycle High-Temperature Reactors

摘要

The transition from a fossil energy world to a low-carbon nuclear-renewable world is a transition from a low-capital-cost high-operating-cost energy systems to a high-capital-cost low-operating-cost energy systems where nuclear, wind and solar must operate at high capacity factors for economic energy production. That implies energy storage. Nuclear power plants convert heat to electricity and thus have the unique capability to couple to heat storage systems where heat storage is less expensive to store than work (electricity). This defines a major direction for nuclear power going forward-base-load reactors with variable energy to the grid and industry.