Proceedings of the First National Topical Meeting on Nuclear Process Heat Applications Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Los Alamos, New Mexico October 1-3, 1974

摘要

The basic motivation for considering industrial use of nuclear heat is two-fold, a matter of supply and of economics. The existing imbalance between demand for oil and gas and domestic supplies shows every indication of continuing in¬definitely, and the time and effort required to solve the many problems associated with exploiting our coal resources are considerable. In addition, price projections indicate that energy from nuclear reactors, at least in some forms, is potentially cheaper than energy derived from fossil fuels.nThe present state of technology indicates that small reactors sized to service typical industrial energy loads are not economically attractive. The most viable alternative appears to be the furnishing of by-product steam from a neighboring nuclear central power station, the "energy center" or "industrial park" concept. The major economic attraction, in addition to nuclear reactor costs, is the fact that much of the heat taken and utilized by industry would otherwise have to be rejected to the environment via expensive cooling ponds and towers. The advent of the HTGCR should further extend the range of possible industrial applications.