EA045573B1 - NUCLEAR THERMAL PLANT WITH ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN LOAD-FOLLOWING MODE - Google Patents

Description

Cross reference to related applications

Pursuant to 35 USC § 119(e), priority is claimed for this invention as to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/833623, filed April 12, 2019, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/929003, filed October 31. 2019, both entitled Load-following Nuclear Thermal Plant, the descriptions of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Prerequisites

The field of the present invention relates to nuclear reactors, and more particularly to nuclear reactors for heat generation with improved safety and load following capability.

Known methods and systems for generating electricity from a nuclear reactor require that the nuclear reactor undergo significant planning, construction, and mandatory licensing of the radiation portion before starting the reactor. A nuclear reactor is connected to a power cycle to convert nuclear thermal energy into electricity, usually using a steam turbine using water as the working fluid. Although nuclear reactors operating this way have been around for decades, the typical setup has several disadvantages.

For example, the radiation portion, which contains the reactor area, fuel handling systems, and energy conversion systems, typically operates at high temperatures and pressures, requiring large containment structures. In addition, the structure located on nuclear equipment must also be inspected and must obtain a nuclear license from the regulatory body to operate, which is a time-consuming and expensive undertaking.

In addition, the reactor is subject to a balance of plant shutdowns, when faulty equipment causes the nuclear plant to automatically shut down. Finally, a nuclear power plant is not designed to rapidly change power and therefore cannot effectively monitor load demand from the electrical grid.

Although nuclear power plants offer numerous and significant advantages over other forms of electricity generation, it would be desirable to provide improvements that result in a safer, more flexible and efficient system for generating, storing and converting thermal energy, among other features , which will become obvious from the following description.

The essence of the invention

In accordance with some embodiments, the nuclear power plant can be reconfigured, reconfigured and operated as a nuclear thermal plant, which provides numerous advantages. For example, a nuclear power plant can be reconfigured and operated to generate thermal energy that can be transported remotely to a thermal storage system. The thermal storage system, in turn, can be connected to an energy conversion unit that converts thermal energy into industrial heat, electricity, or other useful purposes. By decoupling the nuclear reactor from the plant's non-nuclear equipment, including the energy conversion system, many benefits can be realized.

For example, compulsory licensing can be carried out much more efficiently when there is less equipment installed in the radiation section. In some nuclear reactors, the coolant is a liquid metal, such as sodium. When sodium comes into contact with water, an exothermic and energetic reaction occurs, and safety systems must be in place to suppress this reaction and contain this reaction if it occurs. By locating the steam plant remotely from the reactor, the reactor is thereby isolated from any water-containing systems that might normally be used in conjunction with a nuclear power plant.

In addition, several nuclear thermal plants can be connected to a common heat storage system, which provides advantages in terms of cost and construction time, ease of maintenance, since one or more reactors can be shut down without affecting the entire nuclear thermal plant, and the nuclear thermal plant can efficiently deliver more energy during periods of high demand than it could deliver if it were connected directly to the energy conversion system.

The following description presents concepts that offer breakthrough potential for the economics of sodium-cooled nuclear reactor installations, as well as nuclear power plants using other fuels, coolants and technologies. These breakthroughs may be the result of rethinking technology to reduce costs and schedule uncertainty or expand revenue streams, for example by delivering electricity and heat to consumers. In addition to economic benefits, ensuring the ability to address political issues (network reliability, proliferation resistance, exportability, ease of deployment, etc.) is a factor in realizing these benefits.

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Brief description of drawings

A better understanding of the features, advantages and principles of the present invention will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description, in which illustrative embodiments and accompanying drawings are set forth, in which:

fig. 1 shows a typical nuclear power plant;

fig. 2 depicts a nuclear thermal plant separated from a power generation plant, in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 3 depicts a nuclear thermal plant connected to a thermal storage unit, in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 4 depicts a nuclear thermal plant coupled to a remote thermal storage unit with an optional thermal storage unit, in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 5 depicts a nuclear thermal plant connected to a remote thermal storage system that is connected to external loads, in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 6 depicts exemplary industrial heating and required temperatures;

fig. 7 depicts an energy system in which, in some embodiments, multiple heat sources share a common thermal storage and energy conversion system;

fig. 8 depicts a power system in which, in accordance with some embodiments, multiple heat sources share a common thermal storage and energy conversion system with an auxiliary power system;

fig. 9 depicts a nuclear thermal plant coupled to a remote thermal storage system associated with external loads and additional thermal use, in accordance with some embodiments;

fig. 10 depicts a hybrid energy system in which, in accordance with some embodiments, multiple forms of thermal energy generators are connected to a common thermal storage system and a common energy conversion system; and fig. 11 depicts a power system in which, in some embodiments, the nuclear unit is separated from the power unit by an integrated energy storage unit.

Detailed description

The following detailed description provides a better understanding of the features and advantages of the inventions described in this patent in accordance with the embodiments disclosed herein. Although the detailed description contains many specific embodiments, they are presented by way of example only and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the inventions disclosed herein.

While the cost of nuclear power is important and worthy of attention, the revenue side and political aspect of nuclear power are equally worthy of attention. The cost of nuclear power has been an important metric in describing the commercial attractiveness of entering the highly regulated, commercialized base-load power generation market. Finding approaches to reduce regulatory burdens and expand commercial market opportunities is key to revolutionary economic changes that increase revenues while modestly increasing costs. Technical solutions to policy problems also have strategic implications that are difficult to capture by estimating the cost of construction overnight. Taking advantage of currently undervalued factors such as zero CO ₂ emissions, with the ability to integrate with an increasingly dynamic electrical grid, will become more valuable in the coming decades.

In addition to nuclear power's load-following operating cost issues, base-load power generation has no ability to track revenue because electricity prices fluctuate throughout the day, like peaking power plants (for example, power plants that can only operate when when there is high or peak demand). Increasing the competitiveness of nuclear power in a changing energy landscape requires manufacturing and technological innovations that will allow nuclear power to operate at full capacity and access market speculation opportunities in addition to producing electricity at full capacity. At a time when electricity prices are below cost due to disruptions in renewable energy sources, nuclear power plants require an alternative production channel instead of load-following electricity demand alone. This fundamentally requires understanding the competitive advantages of nuclear power plants compared to intermittently renewable energy sources. These competitive advantages lead to the desire and ability to combine with other manufacturing processes to achieve economies of concentration in energy production and manufacturing processes.

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One of the distinguishing characteristics of nuclear power compared to wind, solar and other renewable energy sources is the concentrated shaft power before electricity generation and heat generation. Exploiting these differences can determine competitive advantages during periods of low-cost energy production to either store energy more efficiently or produce a different marketable product. Many power generation plants use the Rankine steam cycle to convert thermal energy into electricity. While converting shaft power to electrical power in a rotating generator is highly efficient (98-99%), converting electrical power back to shaft power is slightly less efficient (~95%). Additional losses occur when the voltage is increased for transmission along power lines and the voltage is decreased for local consumption. The exact losses from transmission to consumption vary by location and distance, but the total estimated losses from energy production at the nuclear power plant to energy consumption at the site for this example are estimated at 24%. The combined efficiency losses show that direct shaft power produces an efficiency gain of 811% compared to generating electricity from shaft power elsewhere. As a result, there is a potential boundary arbitrage between power generation and direct drive operation on a shaft with a sufficiently powerful clutch and gear system. The clutch and gear system will be capable of converting all or part of the shaft power into non-electrical production work. The challenge is to start/stop processes up to gigawatt scale and corresponding product mass flow rates to support huge workloads.

One such example would be the use of compressed air energy storage (CAES) or liquefied air energy storage (LAES) to enable nuclear power plants to operate at full capacity when electricity prices are low (and therefore electricity demand is low) by providing shaft power for air liquefaction in addition to meeting base load electrical needs. Cryogenic liquefied air stored at atmospheric pressure can later be evaporated along with nuclear waste heat to drive a turbine to generate electricity. CAES and LAES are designed to scale gigawatt-hour storage and represent a significant opportunity for energy management. The stored liquefied air can then drive a turbine during peak electricity prices to move nuclear power away from base-load-only pricing. Because of the scalability of CAES and LAES technologies and the technical maturity of large cryogenic storage tanks, it is possible to combine concentrated nuclear shaft power for cryogenic cooling and waste heat to boil liquefied air to drive a turbine. This combination of capabilities will be more efficient than the electrically driven pumping and thermal storage requirements of currently offered CAES and LAES technologies, giving the combined technology a competitive advantage over any other technology alone. This technology, with appropriate development, could be retrofitted to the existing United States nuclear fleet, which produces 99 GW of electricity.

While the most likely use of CAES and LAES is for energy production, more selective distillation of liquefied compressed air can also produce high quality gas streams as a marketable product. An example would be the sale of thermally distilled pure oxygen streams for medical purposes or energy production to companies that hope to simplify carbon capture by removing the complications associated with producing NOX and SOX by burning only natural gas and oxygen. This opens up the possibility of co-locating natural gas power plants with CAES-Nuclear power plants to facilitate carbon capture. The remaining distilled gases can be used for their low temperature, gas specific value, or consumed in a turbine, for example to generate electricity.

Another similar use of usable capacity in the United States is the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export market, for which demand continues to grow, reaching approximately 8.9 billion cubic feet per day by 2019. Currently, the technological process consumes up to 10% of the original gas for liquefaction. Using a more conservative estimate for the liquefaction process of 4100 kJ/kg, approximately 230 GWh of energy per year is required to support the current liquefaction process. Nuclear power plants can play a significant role in increasing LNG exports to the rest of the world, either through direct compression or through a combination with CAES energy storage using cold CAES on one side of the heat exchanger and natural gas on the other. In this combined system, natural gas is liquefied for storage or export, and compressed air is boiled to drive an electric turbine. In any case, air and natural gas can be supplied to the power plant and easily processed, and are relatively easy to start-stop operations to adapt to load following mode.

Another example of fluid transfer is mass hydropower transfer/water renewal.

- 3 045573 nose horizon as a reasonable application for start/stop. Assuming that market price signals develop over the next decade to warrant large-scale pumping efforts and associated pipelines, the efficiency gains from using direct shaft power to renew an aquifer could amount to more than seven quadrillion energy units (i.e., one a quadrillion is 10 ¹⁵ BTU, or 1.055x101 ^s J) or more per year. Presumably, water reclamation measures will reduce the required pumping effort, but will likely not eliminate the need for water replacement. In addition, this pumping force also represents powerful pumped hydropower that can work backwards along the pipeline to supplement intermittent energy sources and replenish local aquifers.

As stated above, concentrated shaft power is just one of the distinguishing characteristics of nuclear power compared to solar, wind and other renewable energy options. In industrial processes, both energy and temperature are required to produce products such as refined oil, coke and steel, chemicals, cement, etc. The minimum temperature required for a chemical process to occur is a key factor in determining the best primary energy source. Although primary heat consumption varies by market, the temperature requirements for a given process are universal. Although there is a range of temperature requirements for processes, the main temperatures of interest seem to be 100-250°C, in steam and hot water production, in petroleum refining (petrochemical) processes in the range of 250-550°C, as well as in high temperature processes for cement, cast iron, steel and glass production at temperatures >1000°C. Looking at the energy market as a whole, petroleum refining consumes more than 6 quadrillion units of energy per year, and forestry products consume just over 3 quadrillion units of energy per year.

Currently, fossil fuels meet both the scale of energy demand and temperature. In a carbon-free energy world, finding the best way to replace the utility and versatility of fossil fuels is a challenge. In the case of wind, solar and hydropower, they can generate significant amounts of energy, but they do not produce significant amounts of high-quality heat. These energy sources must undergo another energy conversion to produce higher quality process heat. Additional steps such as resistance heaters or hydrogen production using blast furnaces must be included in the pricing of these energy sources. Additional energy storage may also be required to achieve high power factors to operate industrial equipment 24 hours a day or to accept lost opportunity with low power factor installations.

By competing on heat rather than electricity, a nuclear power plant has price competition based on US$ per MMBTU at temperature versus US$ per 1 kW(e) converted to the required temperature. One of the most obvious starting points for competition is the direct production and consumption of steam. Forestry products consume 1.3 quadrillion units of steam energy per year, which amounts to more than 45 GW of thermal nuclear power plants operating 24 hours a day just to process steam. In the production of forestry products, part of the process generates wastes such as black liquor (e.g. waste from the kraft process of converting pulpwood into paper pulp, removing lignin, hemicellulose and other extractives from the wood to release cellulosic fibres), biomass and other residual fuels , which are burned to produce process heat to produce steam. The rest of the required fuel is currently supplied by coal or natural gas. Using nuclear power to produce steam frees up 1,330 thermal BTUs (1.3 quadrillion energy units) of primary energy for use in other high-temperature applications such as oil refineries or cement production. By using nuclear thermal energy to provide high-quality process heat for the forest industry, recovered energy from forest products can meet the energy needs of both cement and glass production in the United States (totaling less than 1 quadrillion energy units) with energy to spare. Combustion of forest products is considered carbon neutral and therefore allows for nuclear replacement of steam production to directly support high temperature processes. Although the fuel source for cement production has a high degree of versatility, ensuring that forest fuel products can be transported and used in other primary heat uses may require technological innovation. Like forestry products, the chemical industry as a whole consumes 1.2 quadrillion units of steam energy, which can be directly replaced by steam generated by nuclear power. However, this energy displacement does not completely free up the renewable fuel source, but simply reduces the amount of natural gas and coal needed to drive the process, even if the renewable energy sources are so

- 4 045573 are burned to support their conversion into products.

Another use of steam generated by nuclear power could be a combination of a nuclear power plant that produces steam for hydrogen electrolysis while batch power sources produce cheap electricity, and electricity production when batch power sources are shut down. As the temperature of the steam increases, less electricity is required to carry out electrolysis. However, improving energy efficiency at higher temperatures may not be economically interesting in a world where peak intermittent power generation causes the cost of electricity to become too cheap to meter. If the cost of electrolysis equipment can be cheaply integrated into a steam bypass line, then a nuclear reactor can easily switch, partially or completely, to electrolysis during periods of low energy costs. This allows nuclear plants to compete in heat production when electricity prices are low and in electricity production when electricity prices are higher. The resulting hydrogen production should be considered not only as an energy storage mechanism, but rather as a source of industrial heat requirements >1000°C, for example for the production of cement, iron, steel and glass.

With advanced nuclear reactors, which have higher reactor outlet temperatures, more direct options for industrial processes become available. For example, the higher reactor outlet temperature can be used as a preheater for other industrial processes or as a primary heat source for a chemical process. In the case of petroleum refining, there is a significant energy requirement in distilling and cracking hydrocarbons, requiring more than 6 quadrillion (British thermal units, BTU; equivalent to 2.05x1016 J) energy. A sodium-cooled reactor can be the primary heat source for a number of low-temperature cracking processes, and reactor heat can also be increased to the required peak refinery temperatures using electrical heating or small quantities of fossil fuels. Much of the technical challenge here is to minimize the number of heat exchangers/losses during heat exchange, and to develop technology for refineries to accept temperature and energy inputs other than oil, electricity, and steam. An example would be replacing a salt/oil heat exchanger in a traditional high temperature cracking combustion chamber. Other types of advanced nuclear reactors, such as the molten salt reactor, can be used to directly produce the required higher temperature industrial process heat.

Thermal storage capabilities also exist for the separation of heat production and heat utilization for nuclear thermal power plants.

A general proposal is to use the primary coolant from nuclear thermal power plants to heat a large thermal accumulator, such as phase change salts, and pump them into large reservoirs. These large reservoirs of heated salts can then be used to generate electricity, such as through a Rankine steam cycle, or to supply process heat depending on the specific application. By separating heat production from direct heat use, a thermal storage provides a flexible means of following load-following power generation, running at full capacity and filling hot salt reservoirs, but producing electricity at a more valuable time during peak demand or more traditional power generation at constant load. This approach also allows the nuclear power plant to operate as a peaking station for price speculation opportunities while continuing to operate at full capacity. Additional cost savings also exist if the nuclear power plant and primary coolant/salt heat exchangers and salt storage can be separated as these are not critical to reactor safety, so construction and power generation equipment rules are similar to non-nuclear power plants. This allows the use of standard commercial safety protocols, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and quality standards that can justify the use of any heat exchangers or the presence of heat loss by pumping hot salts from the safety of the nuclear power plant. Essentially, the power system for a nuclear power plant can be built in a non-NQA1 environment (with associated maintenance operations) to obtain commercially competitive designs from existing solar thermal salt power companies.

Higher temperature reactors such as sodium cooled reactors, molten salt reactors, high temperature gas reactors and others can also be involved in hydrogen production using processes other than wind and solar PV, in addition to steam electrolysis discussed above. One example of high temperature processes is the copper-chlorine cycle. In this cycle, process heat of 400 to 500°C is used to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The last stage of the cycle uses electrolysis at a temperature

- 5 045573 re environment for recycling of all chemicals except water, which turns into gas. This process presents an interesting opportunity to deliver traceable, low-cost electricity generated during peak wind and solar energy periods. When continuously operating a high-temperature nuclear power plant to produce hydrogen and oxygen, the equipment and O&M costs are justified by filling the tanks with copper-chlorine electrolysis reagents. When electricity becomes cheap, electrolysis at ambient temperatures is used to convert the contents of the tanks back into the appropriate raw chemicals to start the cycle again. This process is similar in essence to filling salt tanks with hot salt to be used at a later time, but is more specifically tailored to the final chemical product. This example is not necessarily used to advocate the copper-chlorine cycle, but the general idea is that electricity supply is a different approach than energy storage to meet demand. The process also allows most of the nuclear plant's equipment used to produce hydrogen to be used, with only some tanks and electrolysis equipment being idle during normal operation.

These features and benefits, along with many others, can be realized through a nuclear power plant redesign that allows the nuclear thermal plant to be housed with industrial and chemical heating systems, reducing the footprint of the NQA1 qualification area and loading the following capabilities when operating the nuclear reactor at full power .

In fig. 1 shows a typical nuclear power plant 100. The design of the nuclear power plant 100 consists of two main parts: the radiation part and the turbine equipment. The center of the radiation part is the nuclear reactor zone 102, in which the nuclear reactor is located. Fuel handling area 104 is adjacent to the reactor area, and both structures are typically located within containment area 106. Containment area 106 may include a containment structure, which may be made of reinforced steel, concrete, or lead, or a combination of materials that creates a structure, surrounding a nuclear reactor. Its design and function is to contain the escaping radioactive vapor or gas, and in many cases it is designed to hold the escaping gas at a pressure of up to 550 kPa or more. The containment structure is designed as the last line of defense against design basis accidents. The cost of constructing a containment structure is directly proportional not only to the size of the reactor, but also depends on the non-nuclear systems and plant components that need to be housed within it. The radiation portion also contains auxiliary components such as pumps, fluid circuits, control room and other auxiliary components.

The fuel handling area 104, which may be located within the containment area 106, is designed to allow fuel reloading at a rate that allows continued operation of the reactor. It also contains subcritical fuel outside the reactor core and prevents fuel damage and contamination. It may also contain equipment for moving fuel rods and fuel assemblies, for example for reloading fuel into the reactor core.

Adjacent to the reactor zone and part of the radiation section are steam generators 108. In some cases, steam generators 108 are located inside the containment zone 106 and supply superheated steam to steam turbines 110. Steam generators 108 receive thermal power from the reactor and transfer thermal energy to steam turbines 110, which convert the steam energy into mechanical energy. In some installations, radioactive water passes through steam turbines 110, which must be located within the radiologically controlled area of the nuclear power plant. The steam turbines 110 are in turn mechanically coupled to generators 112, which convert the mechanical energy of the steam turbines 110 into electricity.

Fuel rod inspection area 114 may be on site for post-irradiation inspection (PIE) and analysis. The fuel rod inspection area 114 is often adjacent to the fuel handling area 104 to share common fuel handling equipment. Fuel rod inspection area 114 may further comprise a hot chamber for storing and testing irradiated fuel rods.

As shown in FIG. 1, the containment zone 106 may be required to cover the reactor zone 102 as well as the fuel handling zone 104. In some cases, the steam generator designs 108 and associated equipment are located outside the containment zone 106, but in many cases they are required to be within the containment zone 106. One or more coolant loops are used to transfer heat from the reactor zone 102 through a heat exchanger into the coolant. , which not only cools the nuclear reactor core, but also allows heat to be transferred outside the containment zone in the steam generator design 108. In many cases, the primary coolant loop receives heat from the reactor core through the primary heat exchanger and transfers thermal energy to the secondary coolant loop through the secondary heat exchanger In many

- 6 045573 cases, the coolant in the primary coolant circuit becomes radioactive. Many reactors currently in use use high-pressure water as a coolant and neutron moderator. The primary coolant typically undergoes a liquid-to-vapour phase change as it absorbs thermal energy from the reactor core and then transfers thermal energy to the secondary circuit.

The coolant in the secondary circuit, which can also be water, receives heat from the primary coolant circuit and undergoes a phase change from liquid to steam, which is used to drive steam generators. This superheated steam is usually under high pressure, requiring safety measures to contain the high pressure and high temperature steam in the event of a breach.

In some cases, the primary and/or secondary coolant may be another material, such as molten metal. For example, some fast reactors use molten metal such as liquid sodium as the coolant. In other cases, molten salt can be used as a coolant. Both molten metals and salts have low vapor pressure even at high temperatures and are thus capable of transferring heat at lower pressures than water at similar temperatures.

Nuclear power plant 100 is typically protected by a facility boundary 120, which may include a security perimeter such as a high fence with barbed wire. Nuclear power plant 100 and associated buildings, structures, systems, piping, etc. may be called a nuclear facility that is located within the boundaries of a 120 nuclear facility. To ensure the security of a nuclear facility, additional security measures are typically used, such as gates at all access points, security guards at access points, surveillance cameras, motion sensors, and/or electrified fencing, among others.

Nuclear power plant 100 must additionally have an emergency planning area (EPA), which is required to prepare for serious accidents at the nuclear power plant. In many cases, the ZAP is within 10 miles (about 16.5 km) of nuclear power plant 100.

As shown in FIG. 2, the reactor zone 202 and the fuel handling zone 204 are located within a containment zone 206 having a containment structure. These two main buildings, together with the control room, make up the radiation section. Compared to a typical nuclear power plant shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that the steam generators, steam turbines, generators and the fuel rod testing area are no longer located in the radiation part. Rather, these components were installed remotely from the radiation section. The illustrated reactor area 202 is configured as a nuclear thermal plant 200 and is designed and operated to generate heat (as opposed to electricity as in a typical nuclear power plant). In the illustrated configuration, the thermal storage system 208 is remote from the nuclear equipment and receives thermal energy from the nuclear thermal power plant 200. It should be noted that the thermal energy generated by the nuclear thermal power plant 200 is transported outside the nuclear equipment and, in many cases, outside the facility boundary 210 and even outside the APP. .

One immediate advantage of this configuration is that the thermal storage 208 and power generation units 212 are outside the regulatory domain of nuclear power. This allows the nuclear thermal plant 200 to be built and licensed much more efficiently than is possible with a nuclear power plant.

The nuclear reactor design shown in FIG. 2 may be any suitable type of nuclear reactor. For example, a nuclear reactor may include, but is not limited to, a thermal spectrum nuclear reactor, a fast spectrum nuclear reactor, a multiple spectrum nuclear reactor, a nuclear breeder reactor, or a traveling wave reactor. The thermal energy produced by the nuclear reactor may be transferred to the thermal storage system using the energy transfer system 214.

In some embodiments, a nuclear reactor may use fuel that does not require heavy fuel handling equipment, such as for fuel rod refueling or reactor refueling. Therefore, in these embodiments, the fuel handling area 204 may be much smaller than that required to move fuel rods and fuel assemblies into and out of the reactor core. Such a reactor may be a pool reactor or a molten salt reactor, among others. One advantage of this type of reactor is that the fuel handling zone 204 can be much smaller, and therefore the radiation portion and/or containment zone 206 can be smaller than typically required for reactors that use fuel rods and fuel assemblies. , and therefore require heavy equipment to operate and handle them.

The nuclear reactor, in some embodiments, may be a liquid-cooled nuclear reactor. For example, a nuclear reactor coolant liquid may contain, among other things, a metallic or salt coolant liquid (e.g., uranium chloride, uranium trichloride, uranium tetrachloride, lithium fluoride, beryllium fluoride, or other chloride or fluoride salts),

- 7 045573 liquid metal heat transfer fluid (for example sodium, NaK, other sodium alloys, lead or lead-bismuth), organic heat transfer fluid (for example diphenyl with diphenyl oxide) or water-based heat transfer fluid.

In another embodiment, the nuclear reactor may be a nuclear reactor having a compressed gas coolant. For example, the compressed gas coolant may comprise, but is not limited to, compressed helium gas or compressed carbon dioxide gas.

In another embodiment, the nuclear reactor may be a nuclear reactor having a mixed phase coolant. For example, the mixed-phase coolant may comprise, but is not limited to, a gas-liquid mixed-phase material (eg, steam-liquid water).

The thermal storage system 208 may be any suitable thermal storage installation currently known or hereafter developed. In some embodiments, the thermal storage system is capable of storing thermal energy in the range of 500°C or higher. In some cases, the thermal storage system stores energy at 550, 600, 700, 750°C or higher. In some cases, the thermal storage system 208 is designed to store thermal energy above 1000°C. In some embodiments, the thermal storage system 208 has multiple thermal reservoirs and stores thermal energy at different temperatures.

The thermal storage system 208 is in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor through the energy transfer system 214. The power transfer system 214 receives thermal energy from a primary heat exchanger associated with the nuclear reactor. For example, the primary coolant of a nuclear reactor passes through the primary heat exchanger and transfers thermal energy from the reactor core to the power transfer system 214, thereby cooling the primary coolant and transferring the thermal energy to the power transfer system 214. The system 214 may be considered a secondary coolant loop designed to receive thermal energy from the primary coolant loop and transfer the thermal energy to the thermal storage system 208 .

For example, a first portion of the power transfer system 214 may be in thermal communication with a portion of the primary coolant loop of a nuclear reactor, and a second portion of the power transfer system 214 may be in thermal communication with a thermal storage system 208 .

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a combination of heat exchange loops, heat exchangers, and heat pipes may be used together to supply heat from a nuclear reactor to the power transfer system 214 and the thermal storage system 208 . For example, a primary heat exchanger comprising multiple heat pipes may be used to provide thermal contact between the first heat exchange loop of a nuclear reactor and the power transfer system 214. A second heat exchanger, which may also include multiple heat pipes, may be used to provide thermal contact between the power transfer system 214 and the thermal storage system 208. Thus, thermal energy generated by the nuclear reactor can be transferred to the thermal storage system 208. The power transfer system 214 may use liquid metal, salt, or some other working fluid to facilitate heat transfer. Alternatively, the power transfer system 214 may be in direct thermal communication with the storage media in the thermal storage system 208, for example, where the storage media may be transferred from the thermal storage system 208 to a primary heat exchanger in the reactor vessel.

The power generation system 212 may be located downstream of the thermal storage system 208 and be in thermal communication with the thermal storage system 208 . The result of this type of configuration is that the radiation portion is separated from the power generation system 212. In other words, a malfunction occurring in equipment associated with the power generation system 212 or thermal storage system 208 does not immediately affect the nuclear reactor. In conventional nuclear reactor systems, a malfunction of equipment associated with the power generation system 212 often causes an automatic and immediate shutdown of the reactor core. This is usually provided as a safety measure to circumvent the problem of excess heat being generated without sufficient heat transfer capacity to remove excess heat from the nuclear reactor system.

In some cases, the thermal storage system 208 has a greater thermal energy capacity than the design thermal output of the reactor. For example, thermal storage system 208 may be designed to deliver 1200 MWh of energy, while a nuclear reactor is designed and operated to produce 400 MWh of energy. This allows thermal storage system 208 to store excess energy in excess of what the nuclear reactor provides and deliver that energy to power plant 212 as needed. For example, if the load demand of the thermal storage system 208 is lower than the power of the reactor, the thermal storage system 208 is charged with additional thermal energy. During the time of high

- 8 045573 load, when the load demand on the thermal storage system 208 is greater than the power output of the reactor, the thermal storage system 208 is emptied.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the power generation unit 212 is connected to the thermal storage system 208. The power generation system 212 may be any power generation system 212 that is currently known or that will be developed later. In some embodiments, the power generation system 212 receives thermal energy from the thermal storage system 208 and converts the thermal energy into electrical energy.

In some cases, thermal energy is passed through a steam generator to create high temperature, high pressure steam that can be used to drive a steam turbine. The steam turbine, in turn, drives a generator and converts the mechanical work of the steam turbine into electricity, which, as is known, can be transmitted to the electrical grid.

In other cases, thermal energy from thermal storage system 208 may be delivered to solid-state electrical generating devices that convert heat directly into electricity without the need to generate steam or convert thermal energy into mechanical work. Such systems are currently in development, and the disclosed embodiments are well suited to interface with a future developed power generation plan that requires heat to generate electricity.

The thermal storage system 208 is in thermal communication with the power generation system 212 by any suitable means. For example, a power delivery system 216 may be employed to deliver thermal energy from thermal storage system 208 to power generation system 212 . For example, energy delivery system 216 may include a fluid circuit having a first portion in thermal communication with a thermal storage system 208, such as through a heat exchanger, and a second portion in thermal communication with a power generation system 212, such as through another heat exchanger. . The heat exchangers may be any suitable heat exchangers, such as, but not limited to, shell-and-tube heat exchangers, two-tube heat exchangers, plate heat exchangers, condensers, evaporators, boilers, or a combination of one or more different types of heat exchangers.

The illustrated configuration and application of thermal storage system 208 allows the nuclear reactor to be isolated from energy conversion tasks. This offers many benefits. For example, a nuclear reactor is no longer subject to transients outside the plant boundary 210 that could cause a plant shutdown balance. These types of faults can be dealt with without shutting down the nuclear reactor. In traditional nuclear power plants, transient operation of the plant results in reactor shutdown, which is a problem from an economic and safety point of view. These transients can be caused by failures in the plant's non-nuclear systems, such as a faulty steam generator component, steam turbine, or some other auxiliary component that causes the nuclear reactor to shut down. These issues are no longer an issue for Nuclear Thermal Plant 200 because the nuclear reactor is separated from the plant's non-nuclear systems. The power generation system 212, thermal storage system 208, or nuclear reactor system can be safely shut down, such as for maintenance, without affecting other systems.

For example, a nuclear reactor system may be shut down and taken offline while thermal storage system 208 may continue to provide thermal energy to power generation system 212, which continues to produce power. Likewise, the power generation system 212 may be stopped or operated at reduced power while the nuclear reactor system continues to generate thermal energy and essentially charges the thermal storage system 208. In some embodiments, the nuclear reactor system operates at full power and thermal energy is transferred to the thermal storage system 208, which is completely independent of the load on the power generation system 212. The load on the power generation system 212 tends to vary throughout the day, week, month, and season, whereas a nuclear reactor system is capable of continuously operating at full power regardless of load.

Additionally, in nuclear thermal plants that use a sodium-cooled reactor, moving the steam generation system as described to a remote location increases safety since there is very little or no risk that water from the steam cycle will react with the sodium used in a nuclear reactor.

In a traditional nuclear power plant, the intermediate coolant loop transfers thermal energy from the primary reactor coolant loop to the steam generator, which is exposed to radiation since it is in close proximity to the nuclear reactor core and must be designed to withstand this type of radiation that destroys building materials. For example, some metals can become brittle due to radiation hardening, which reduces toughness and leads to possible brittle cracks. In the described scheme, the intermediate coolant circuit is removed from the nuclear reactor (or completely excluded) and

- 9 045573 can be made from materials that are easier to find and make, and are therefore less expensive and more accessible.

As illustrated, the thermal storage system 208 and the power generation system 212 are located outside the site boundary 210 of the nuclear thermal plant 200. Specifically, the nuclear thermal plant 200 is located within the site boundary 210, such as a secure fence, and all equipment within the site is subject to strict nuclear regulation. Where non-nuclear plant systems, such as thermal storage system 208 and power generation system 212, are located remotely and outside the site boundary 210, these systems are subject to significantly less regulation, making construction, licensing and operation much more efficient. These non-nuclear installation systems may also be located outside the ZAP.

In some embodiments, the nuclear thermal plant 200 may contain a nuclear reactor that is inherently safe, and the size of the RAP may be such that it coincides with the boundary 210 of the facility. In other cases, the size of the AR may be such that it is within the object boundary 210. In any case, locating non-nuclear plant systems outside the nuclear facility boundary 210 provides numerous benefits in terms of safety, efficiency, and speed of construction and licensing.

In addition, in the described design, the nuclear thermal plant 200 is capable of operating in a load following mode. Load following is the concept of adjusting power output when electricity demand fluctuates throughout the day. A traditional nuclear power plant typically operates at full power all the time and usually does not change its power output. In the described design, the nuclear thermal plant 200 can operate at full power, which can be designed to meet the base load requirements of the electrical grid. The base load on the electrical grid is the minimum level of demand for a certain period of time. This demand can be met by continuous power plants, dispatchable generation (such as an on-demand grid), a collection of smaller intermittent power sources, or a combination of power sources. The rest of the demand, which varies throughout the day, can be met by dispatchable generation that can be ramped up or down quickly, such as load-following power plants, peaking power plants, or energy storage.

The thermal output of nuclear thermal plant 200 is stored in thermal storage system 208 and delivered to power generation system 212 as needed. In other words, the nuclear thermal plant 200 can charge the thermal storage device at a nearly constant rate, and the thermal storage system 208 can provide thermal energy to the power generation system 212 to generate electricity that matches the electrical load demand from the electrical grid. Thus, the nuclear thermal plant 200 can satisfy not only base load requirements, but also provide the ability to follow the load while operating continuously at full power or near full power.

In addition, since the thermal storage system may be larger in size than what the nuclear thermal plant 200 is configured to supply, the nuclear thermal plant 200 may charge the thermal storage system during off-peak electricity demand. Many load-following power plants operate during the day and early evening and operate in direct response to changes in demand for electricity supply. A power plant may shut down early in the evening or at night when demand is low, and then start up again when demand increases during the day. In the described designs, the nuclear thermal plant 200 can operate continuously and the thermal energy produced can be stored until needed for power generation or some other purpose. In some cases, nuclear thermal plant 200 may produce less thermal energy than required to meet peak load demand, but because it can charge a thermal storage unit during off-peak periods of use, the total energy output from nuclear thermal plant 200 can meet base load and demand. peak load over time.

In other cases, nuclear thermal plant 200 may produce more power than is required to meet base load demand. For example, nuclear thermal plant 200 may produce enough thermal energy to be used to meet base load demand, plus excess thermal energy to meet peak load requirements, as well as to provide additional thermal energy for other industrial purposes.

In fig. 3 illustrates a nuclear thermal plant 200 that includes a nuclear reactor 302 that produces heat. Nuclear reactor 302 is in thermal communication with thermal storage system 304. The thermal storage system 304 is in thermal communication with the energy conversion system 306, which is in communication with the external load 308.

The heat generating nuclear reactor 302 may be any suitable type of nuclear reactor now known or to be developed later, such as

- 10 045573 fission or fusion reactors. Such suitable reactors include, but are not limited to, fast neutron nuclear reactors, thermal neutron nuclear reactors, heavy water nuclear reactors, light water moderated nuclear reactors, molten salt reactors, liquid metal cooled reactors, organic moderated nuclear reactors, water cooled reactors, gas cooled nuclear reactors, breeder and combustion reactors, to name a few. In addition, the heat generating nuclear reactor 302 may be any suitable size nuclear reactor, such as a small modular reactor, a micro reactor, or even a gigawatt or larger reactor. In addition, one or more reactors may be used in an integrated energy conversion system, which may be the same type of reactor or reactors of different types and sizes.

Nuclear site boundary 310 is a physical barrier surrounding nuclear thermal plant 200 and is intended to protect nuclear reactor 302. In many cases, site boundary 310 surrounds a radiation portion, which, as previously discussed in connection with the described embodiments, may have much less size than typical nuclear power plants. The thermal storage system 304 is located outside the nuclear facility boundary 310. As described, the thermal storage system 304 may be any suitable type of thermal storage system 304 and may use any suitable type of thermal storage medium. For example, heat transfer fluids may include eutectic solutions, phase change materials, immiscibility range alloys, mixtures of metals (e.g. AlSi ₁₂ ), cement-based materials, molten salts (e.g. chloride salts, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, NaKMg or NaKMg-Cl, among others), solid or molten silicon, or combinations of these or other materials.

In some examples, the coolant is also used as a coolant in the power transmission system 312 and/or in the power delivery system 314. Thus, the power transfer system 312 can be in fluid communication with the power conversion system 306, and the heat transfer medium of the power transfer system 312 can directly interact with the heat storage medium of the thermal storage system 304. Likewise, in some examples, the energy delivery system 314 may use a heat transfer medium that is the thermal storage medium of the thermal storage system 304. In some cases, the thermal storage system 304 may be in direct fluid contact with the energy delivery system 314.

The thermal storage system 304 is in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor 302 via a power transfer system 312, which may be in thermal contact with the nuclear reactor 302 and the thermal storage system 304 via heat exchangers. The power transfer system 312 transfers thermal energy, typically through insulated piping, to a thermal storage system 304 where the thermal energy is stored until needed.

The thermal storage system 304 is in thermal communication with the energy conversion system 306, for example, through the energy delivery system 314. The energy conversion system 306 may be of any suitable type of technology currently known or later developed that is capable of converting thermal energy into useful energy in another form. In some examples, the power conversion system 306 uses a steam turbine, which may operate in a Rankine cycle, to convert steam into mechanical work. In many cases, the steam passes through a steam turbine, which spins a generator shaft to generate electricity.

The energy delivery system 314 may be any suitable combination of heat transfer equipment. In some cases, one or more heat exchangers are associated with each of the thermal storage system 304 and the energy conversion system 306. The working fluid present in the energy delivery system 314 (e.g., in a fluid loop) receives thermal energy from the thermal storage system 304 in one or more heat exchangers associated with the thermal storage system 304, and delivers the thermal energy to the energy conversion system 306 in one or more heat exchangers associated with the energy conversion system. The energy delivery system 314 may use any suitable operating fluid as described herein.

The power conversion system 306 may be coupled to the external load 308 via a power transfer system 316 . The external load may be a utility power grid. The power conversion system 306 may deliver generated electricity to the electrical grid, for example, via high-voltage transmission lines that carry power from the power conversion system to demand centers. Notably, the power conversion system 306 is remote from the nuclear reactor 302 and in many cases is located outside the nuclear facility boundary 310, and in many cases is also located outside the EPZ. As described, the nuclear reactor 302 is separate from the power conversion system 306, such that any malfunctions in the power conversion system 306 do not adversely affect the nuclear reactor 302, and vice versa. In fact, even when the nuclear reactor 302 is shut down, for example for maintenance or

- 11 045573 refueling, the thermal storage system 304 can continue to supply thermal energy to the energy conversion system 306 to supply electricity to the external load.

The relatively low cost of thermal storage system 304 compared to nuclear thermal plant 200 facilitates the expansion of thermal storage system 304 and the downsizing of nuclear thermal plant 200. Additionally, in cases where low pressure heat transfer is used (e.g., molten salt as coolant) , the relatively expensive power conversion equipment 306 is installed remotely at the nuclear thermal plant 200 where it can be designed more efficiently and without the necessary regulation if it were built at a nuclear facility. As used herein, the term low pressure is used to refer to pressures below approximately 3.5 MPa.

Additionally, in cases where there are no high pressure systems (eg, greater than about 3.5 MPa) associated with the nuclear reactor 302, the SEZ can be minimized and heat transfer distances can be reduced. In some cases, the thermal storage system 304 may be installed adjacent to a nuclear facility, but outside the site boundary 310. This minimizes the heat transfer distance while keeping the thermal storage system 304 and energy conversion system 306 outside the boundary 310 and the nuclear facility outside the scope of nuclear regulations.

Shown in FIG. 4, nuclear reactor 302 may be similar to the reactor described with reference to FIG. 3, and connected to a thermal storage system 304, which may be substantially similar to the thermal storage system 304 shown in FIG. 3. Nuclear reactor 302 may also be coupled to an auxiliary thermal storage system 402. In some cases, the thermal storage system 304 may optionally be in thermal contact with the auxiliary thermal storage system 402. Nuclear reactor 302 may be configured to transfer thermal energy to thermal storage system 304, auxiliary thermal storage system 402, or both.

The thermal storage system 304 is coupled to the energy conversion system 306, as previously described herein. The power conversion system 306 is connected to an external load 308, which can be any load, such as an electrical load or a thermal load.

The auxiliary thermal storage 402 may be installed outside the nuclear facility boundary 310 as illustrated, or in some cases may be installed within the nuclear facility boundary 310. In some embodiments, its function is to control the temperature of the return and core inlet fluid in nuclear reactor 302. If there is a difference between the actual T _in and the expected T _in , the reactor control system may initiate a change in reactivity to account for the temperature difference. For example, if the core inlet temperature is higher than expected, the reactor control system may reduce reactivity to account for the higher than expected inlet temperature.

The auxiliary thermal accumulator 402 may be dedicated specifically to this reactor and used to control and/or stabilize the core inlet temperature. For example, auxiliary heat storage 402 may be in thermal communication with the primary coolant circuit within the reactor vessel. Since the primary coolant is at a temperature that differs from the expected T _in , the auxiliary heat storage 402 can cooperate with the primary coolant loop to add heat to or remove heat from the primary coolant loop. As the primary coolant circuit interacts with the working fluid of the auxiliary heat storage tank, the result is that the primary coolant reaches thermal equilibrium with the auxiliary coolant. By controlling the temperature of the primary coolant, reactivity in the core is stabilized and any natural fluctuations are smoothed out.

In some examples, the auxiliary heat accumulator 402 is in direct thermal communication with the nuclear reactor 302, for example, by sending a portion of the thermal energy from the nuclear reactor to the auxiliary heat accumulator 402. In other examples, the auxiliary thermal accumulator 402 is in thermal communication with the thermal storage system 304, with a portion of the thermal energy from the thermal storage system 304 sent to the auxiliary thermal accumulator 402 for use in controlling the inlet temperature of a nuclear reactor core.

One skilled in the art will readily understand how these various systems can be in thermal communication with each other and used to control the core inlet temperature.

In fig. 5 illustrates a nuclear thermal plant 500, which may be substantially the same as described above. Notably, some reactor designs do not require reliance on equipment to handle heavy fuel assemblies. For example, in a pool-type reactor, such as a molten salt reactor, there are no fuel rods or fuel assemblies that need to be stored, moved, inserted, or

- 12 045573 removed from the reactor core. Therefore, the fuel handling area 204 can be significantly reduced in size compared to the handling area of a conventional nuclear power plant. Moreover, many reactor designs are based on fuel cycles that ensure the non-proliferation of fissile materials, such as samoyed reactors or molten salt reactors, and do not necessarily include a fuel handling area 204 in the containment area. In these embodiments, containment zone 206 may be much smaller and include only the nuclear reactor and smaller reactor subsystems. This results in a significantly smaller protection zone 206, which in turn results in lower construction, licensing and operating costs.

In addition, a smaller protection zone 206 results in less coverage of the object boundary 310. Moreover, in those reactor designs that are inherently safe, the object boundary 210 may be minimized and 3E3 may also be minimized. In some cases, the 3E3 boundary coincides with the nuclear facility boundary 210, or in some cases, the 3E3 boundary is within the facility boundary 210. This allows the thermal storage system 208 and/or the power generation system 212 to be located outside the object boundary 210 while being located relatively close to the object boundary 210 to reduce the heat transfer distance of the power transfer system 214.

As illustrated, thermal storage 208 may be in thermal communication with one or more loads 510. For example, thermal storage system 208 may provide thermal energy for, among other things, industrial heating 512, district heating 514, or power generation 212.

Industrial heating applications 512 are varied and require heat at different temperatures. Applications of industrial heat may include fluid heating, such as for cooking, chemical production, reforming, distillation, hydrotreating, which require temperatures ranging from about 110 to about 460°C. Likewise, curing and forming processes, for example for coatings, polymer production, enameling, extrusion, etc. require heating in the range of about 140 to about 650°C. Other processes include iron forming, steel smelting and production, and plastics and rubber production. This industrial heat may be provided by the heat storage system 208, if desired, in quality and quantity in accordance with the specific industrial heat requirements 512.

District heating 514 is a system of distributing heat from a central source through a system of insulated pipes, such as commercial and residential heating systems (e.g. space heating and water heating). This heat typically has a temperature in the lower temperature range and can be provided by a thermal storage system 208 if necessary.

As already discussed, the thermal storage system 208 may be coupled to the power generation unit 212, wherein thermal energy from the thermal storage system 208 may be used to generate electrical power. The power generation system 212 can generate power on demand, and load following provides tracking of demand on the electrical grid. In many cases, the power generation system 212 will produce waste heat, i.e. heat that is not used to generate electricity. It may be in the form of steam after it has passed through a steam turbine. This so-called waste heat can be recycled, for example, to provide district heating, which typically follows lower temperature requirements than power generation tasks 212 or industrial heat 512. Likewise, waste heat from industrial heat tasks 512 can be captured and/or recycled to provide heat for other purposes, such as district heating, or return to the heat storage system 208.

In some embodiments, the thermal storage system 208 is capable of providing thermal energy to all required loads simultaneously. This can be achieved by increasing the size of the thermal storage unit to a size that can meet the thermal energy demand of all expected loads. Since loads are variable, such as district heating 514 being in higher demand at lower ambient temperatures, and energy production 212, such as for domestic use, increasing during the day and decreasing at night, the thermal storage system 208 can be designed and configured to providing all the requirements necessary for the 510 load.

The thermal storage system 208 may contain a large number of storage units connected together. These storage facilities may have the same or different thermal storage media and may be maintained at different temperatures that are better suited to different thermal loads. For example, some industrial heat 512 applications require temperatures in excess of 800°C. In these cases, one or more individual storage units can store thermal energy in excess of 800°C for delivery to these high temperature loads. Likewise, one or more individual storage units may supply relatively low temperature thermal energy,

- 13 045573 for example from 100 to 300°C, loads requiring lower temperatures. Of course, individual storage facilities may use different thermal storage media specifically designed to operate at the required temperatures.

For example, a high-temperature storage facility may use molten salts as a thermal storage medium, the composition of which may be thermally stable to 1000°C or higher. Low temperature storage can use water as a coolant due to its high heat capacity (approximately 4.2 J/(cm ³ -K)).

Fig. 6 illustrates various industrial thermal applications for which a thermal storage system can provide the required thermal energy. As shown, district heating requires a temperature of about 50°C. This can be provided by a thermal storage system having a heat storage medium that is stable at a temperature of about 50°C, and taking into account the efficiency of heat transfer, the heat storage medium can be maintained at temperatures higher than the required temperature, while the heat exchanger can be in thermal communication with the working fluid district heating, which may be air, water, oil or some other suitable working fluid, for a predetermined time sufficient to heat the working fluid to the required temperature sufficient for the district heating.

Most nuclear reactors operating today operate at temperatures in the lower half of the figure, i.e. less than about 300°C. These nuclear reactors are capable of storing thermal energy at temperatures up to approximately 300°C, which is suitable for many applications with low temperature thermal loads, including power generation.

However, for higher temperature heat applications (eg above 300°C), traditional water-cooled nuclear power plants are not capable of producing temperatures in this range. However, there are nuclear reactors that are designed to operate at temperatures around 500-550°C, which are suitable for generating thermal energy up to their operating temperatures. Other nuclear reactors are designed to operate at 750-800°C and can provide heat in this range, suitable for higher temperatures in industry. Still other reactors are capable of operating at temperatures of 1000°C or higher and are suitable for producing very high temperature heat for industrial purposes. Fusion reactors, which are expected to operate at temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius, can provide thermal energy even higher than nuclear fission reactors.

In fig. 7 illustrates an integrated energy system 700 in which a thermal energy storage system 702 obtains thermal energy from a wide variety of heat sources. The thermal energy storage system 702 may be substantially the same as previously described herein. One or more nuclear reactors 704, 706, 708 may be in thermal communication with the thermal energy storage system 702. For example, when building an integrated power system 700, as shown, a single first reactor 704 may be built using pre-existing nuclear reactor technology. The thermal energy storage system 702 may be coupled to the energy conversion system 710, for example, to convert thermal energy into electricity and deliver electricity to an external load.

In some cases, a second nuclear reactor 706, a third nuclear reactor 708, or multiple nuclear reactors may be coupled to a common thermal energy storage system 702. In some embodiments, one or more thermal energy sources, which may be any of nuclear reactors, wind energy systems 712, solar energy systems 714, geothermal energy systems, or any combination of thermal energy sources, may be combined and coupled to thermal energy storage system 7002. energy as part of an integrated energy system 700. Thermal energy sources deliver thermal energy to the thermal energy storage system 702 using any suitable technology and components, which may be different for different thermal energy sources. In some cases, the thermal energy storage system 702 uses a working fluid to store thermal energy, which may be the same working fluid that is used for the heat transfer fluid to deliver thermal energy from thermal energy sources to the thermal energy storage system 702.

As base load power demand increases over time, thermal energy storage system 702 can be scaled to increase thermal energy storage capacity. Likewise, nuclear reactors can also be scaled up, upgraded to take advantage of another technology, or additional reactors can be added as heat sources and connected to the overall thermal energy storage system 702. As an example, a sodium fast neutron reactor can be constructed and connected to a thermal energy storage system 702. As demand from external load 716 increases or as nuclear reactor technology reaches a technology maturity level, another nuclear reactor may be constructed and coupled to thermal energy storage system 702. For example, a molten salt reactor, a small modular reactor, a sodium pool reactor, or another type of reactor may be constructed and connected to the thermal energy storage system 702, in addition to, or as an alternative to, an existing reactor connected to the thermal energy storage system 702.

In many examples, multiple nuclear reactors may be constructed, each with its own unique vessel, lid, and object boundary, with everything outside the object boundary being common to multiple nuclear reactors. Of course, piping and valves may be used to connect the nuclear reactors to the thermal energy storage system 702. The energy delivery system may use common or different heat transfer media to connect the nuclear reactors to the thermal energy storage system 702. By using common non-nuclear plant components, such as a common thermal energy storage system 702, a common steam plant, a common heat transfer system, and a common energy conversion system 710, efficiency gains are achieved by increasing the size of the thermal energy storage system 702, rather than building separate nuclear power plants to provide electricity, each with its own non-nuclear station needs.

The use of multiple reactors coupled to a common thermal energy storage system 702 provides the added benefit of ease of maintenance for nuclear reactors. A single nuclear reactor can be shut down, for example for maintenance or rebooting, without shutting down the entire system. In some cases, one or more thermal energy generation systems (e.g., nuclear reactors, wind energy systems 712, solar thermal energy systems 714, geothermal systems, and others) are separate from the thermal energy storage system 702 and the energy conversion system 710 such that one or more thermal energy systems can be turned off without affecting other equipment or interrupting the power supply to the external load 716.

In some examples, the heat transfer medium is molten salt throughout the entire power system, with the possible exception of the core, which may use any of a number of coolants. For example, a power transfer system 214 that transfers thermal energy from a nuclear thermal plant 704 to a thermal energy storage system 702 may use molten salt as its working fluid. Likewise, the thermal storage medium in the thermal energy storage system 702 may also be molten salt, which may be the same salt as the working fluid of the energy transfer system 214. In addition, the energy delivery system 216, which transfers heat from the thermal energy storage system 702 to the energy conversion system 710, may also be molten salt. Of course, the molten salts used throughout the system may be the same salt or may have different compositions specific to their intended use.

For example, when thermal energy storage system 702 supplies heat to a district heating load, a relatively low temperature is required, and salt (or other working fluid) specifically designed to provide the lower required temperatures can be used as the working fluid to deliver the heat. used for district heating.

In addition, other forms of thermal energy may be connected to the thermal energy storage system, such as solar thermal energy 714 or wind energy 712. In many cases, thermal energy storage system 702 is independent of the thermal energy source and can be connected to a number of different types of thermal energy generators. energy, for example to any of a number of nuclear thermal plants, solar plants, wind farms, geothermal plants, hydroelectric power plants, or other types of heat generating plants.

Fig. 8 depicts an exemplary energy system 800 in which a number of thermal energy sources are thermally coupled to a thermal energy storage system 702. The thermal energy sources may be any of a number of thermal energy systems, such as nuclear reactor thermal plants 704, solar thermal plants 714, wind power plants 712 or other types of thermal energy generating plants, or any combination of thermal energy generating plants.

Thermal energy plants supply thermal energy to a thermal energy storage system 702, which stores thermal energy through any suitable means, such as eutectic solutions, phase change materials, immiscibility range alloys, metal mixtures, cement-based materials, molten salts (eg , among others, chloride salts, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, NaKMg or NaKMg-Cl), solid or molten silicon, or combinations of these or other materials. In some embodiments, thermal energy storage system 702 uses a working fluid that is similar

- 15 045573 fluid medium that transmits thermal energy, which receives thermal energy from one or more installations that generate thermal energy. In some cases, the fluid transmitting thermal energy is the same as the heat-storing medium and is in flow communication with it. In this example, in some cases there may be no intermediate heat transfer loop, and the heat storage medium may receive thermal energy directly from the thermal energy generating plant through a single heat transfer loop. The thermal energy units may be in thermal communication with the thermal energy storage system 702 through one or more heat exchangers, but in some embodiments, a separate heat exchanger is used for each thermal energy unit to couple the thermal energy unit to the thermal energy storage system 702. In some cases, this allows multiple thermal energy sources to be added or removed from the system 800 as needed.

In some embodiments, the auxiliary power system 802 may be coupled to the thermal energy storage system 702. Thermal energy storage system 702 may selectively supply thermal energy to an auxiliary power system 802, which may use the thermal energy to generate power, such as to provide electrical power to one or more nuclear reactors 704, 706, 708. In some cases, the auxiliary power system 802 may provide the possibility of a black launch of one or more nuclear reactors. This can provide nuclear reactors with dedicated power in the event of a power outage or when a nuclear reactor starts up even when electricity from the electrical grid is not available. This ensures further decoupling of nuclear reactors from non-nuclear facilities of the station and ensures decoupling from the electrical grid. Of course, the auxiliary power system 802 may provide backup power to any of the thermal power generating plants, the thermal energy storage system 702, or any other system that benefits from continuous backup power.

The thermal energy storage system 702 may be in thermal contact with the energy conversion system 710, which may produce power for an external load, as described above. In many cases, the external load 716 requires either thermal energy or electricity, either of which may be provided by the power conversion system 710. In some cases, the power conversion system 710 converts thermal energy into electrical energy, such as through a steam generator and turbine. However, in some cases, the thermal energy storage system 702 may supply compressed and heated gas directly to the turbine and avoid the use of a steam generator that is typically used in a turbine power plant.

For example, thermal energy storage system 702 or energy conversion system 710 may use a thermal storage medium to heat a working gas, such as nitrogen, argon, or hydrogen, for example. The working gas may be heated and compressed, for example, to 4 atm, or 5 atm, or 6 atm, but in some embodiments its pressure is below 4 atm. The working gas may be heated, for example, to 600, 650, 700, 725 or 750°C or more. The working gas can be supplied directly to the turbine, and the gas can then expand and drive the turbine. In some embodiments, the turbine operates on a Brayton cycle or a regenerative Brayton cycle. The degree of gas pressure can be selected and adjusted to improve the efficiency of the Brayton cycle. Of course, other working gases can be used, such as immiscible salts, which evaporate at operating temperature and can be used to drive the turbine.

Fig. 9 illustrates an embodiment of an integrated energy system 900 in which a nuclear thermal plant 200 provides thermal energy for a thermal storage system. It should be understood that while a single nuclear thermal power plant 200 is illustrated, two or more nuclear thermal power plants and/or other thermal power plants may be combined to provide thermal energy to the thermal energy storage system 702. Thermal energy storage system 702 in turn provides thermal energy to one or more loads 510, which may include power generation 212, district heating 514, or industrial heat loads 512. In some cases, load 510 may be relatively low for several days or weeks, and the thermal energy storage system 702 may become thermally saturated. That is, the thermal energy storage system 702 may not be able to receive any additional heat from the nuclear thermal plant or other connected thermal energy sources. Accordingly, the thermal energy generated by the thermal energy generating apparatus may be directed to some other auxiliary heat consumption device 902 that provides an advantage. In some cases, excess heat is released into the atmosphere; however, in some cases, excess heat beyond what the thermal storage system is capable of obtaining can be used for other processes such as water desalination or hydrogen production, among others. Of course, thermal energy can be supplied to the auxiliary heat consumption devices 902 even in cases where the thermal storage system is not saturated. For example, thermal energy from

- 16 045573 thermal energy sources can be supplied both to the thermal energy storage system 702 and simultaneously used for auxiliary heat consumption devices 902.

These auxiliary heat consumption devices 902 may receive a portion of the thermal energy before the thermal energy is delivered to the thermal energy storage system 702, or may selectively receive all of the generated thermal energy, for example, when the thermal storage system is completely full, or when the auxiliary consumption device 902 heat is considered a higher and better purpose for thermal energy than storing thermal energy for later use.

In some embodiments, the thermal energy storage system 702 is located above the power generation system 212. For example, thermal energy storage system 702 may be built on a hill so that it is higher in elevation than power generation plant 212. This design takes advantage of the combined energy storage mode by combining thermal energy and pressure due to gravity in downstream systems due to elevation changes. The combined energy storage mode increases the overall energy density. For example, in a typical steam turbine system, one or more pumps are required to move the working fluid through the turbine system. Pumps are typically sized to handle peak loads and are selected to meet peak load requirements by pumping a larger volume of working fluid per unit time through the turbine system. By relying on gravity, the system can send additional heat through a steam generator and then into a cold storage tank. In some embodiments, this design may reduce the required size of one or more pumps or eliminate one or more pumps of the steam turbine system.

In some embodiments, currently existing containment facilities may be suitable for the construction of nuclear thermal plants intended for connection to a thermal storage system. There are currently many nuclear reactor sites that are no longer in operation or must be decommissioned and cease operation. These properties may be referred to as brownfield sites, which the Environmental Protection Agency nomenclature defines as properties whose expansion, reuse, or development may be hampered by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous, toxic, or pollutant. Sites representing decommissioned nuclear reactors are one type of physical object that meets the definition of an abandoned site.

However, nuclear abandoned sites provide several advantages to the systems and methods disclosed or described herein. For example, abandoned nuclear power facilities already have building services such as roads, utilities (e.g. power lines, sewerage, water supply, etc.), site boundary security, protective structures, pipes, valves, support buildings, etc. d. Many of these structures can be reused for a nuclear thermal plant, significantly reducing the time and cost required to build and commission a nuclear thermal plant.

Many nuclear abandoned sites have containment structures designed to house a high-pressure nuclear reactor, such as a light water reactor (LWR). These containment structures are designed to requirements that are much higher than those required for containment structures for new generation nuclear power plants, many of which operate at relatively low pressures compared to LWRs. The thermal energy storage system 702 may be located remotely from the abandoned nuclear facility and in thermal contact with the nuclear thermal plant, as described herein, for example, through heat transfer fluid circuits. A passage may be provided in the containment structure to allow the heat transfer medium to exit the containment structure and deliver thermal energy to a thermal energy storage system 702 that is located remotely from the nuclear facility.

The existing protective structure can be configured to accommodate one, two or more nuclear thermal stations. For example, multiple nuclear reactors may be built within a single containment design that share a common containment design, fuel handling systems, and other components. The containment structure can be divided into two or more reactor rooms to accommodate multiple nuclear reactors and associated support equipment. Two or more nuclear reactors may share, among other things, fuel storage areas, subsystems, reactor core fueling/unloading systems, and fuel cleaning systems.

In some cases it is desirable to keep the nuclear reactor running at full power. The systems and methods described herein enable a nuclear reactor to maintain continuous operation at full power by decoupling the nuclear reactor from its thermal storage and power generation systems. A nuclear reactor can continuously supply thermal energy to a thermal storage system, which can be sized to store and supply more

- 17 045573 energy than a nuclear reactor can provide. In this way, a nuclear reactor can slowly charge the thermal storage system over time. In case a nuclear reactor generates excess heat that the thermal storage system cannot absorb, the excess heat can be removed and used for auxiliary purposes such as industrial process heat, fresh water production, hydrogen production or some other useful purpose. Of course, alternatively or additionally, excess heat can be released into the atmosphere.

Fig. 10 depicts an exemplary embodiment of an integrated energy system having a nuclear thermal plant 200 coupled to a thermal energy storage system 702. Additional hybrid energy sources 1002 such as wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, wave energy, or other renewable energy sources may also be coupled to the thermal energy storage system 702. As shown, the nuclear thermal plant 200 is located within the nuclear facility-3E3 boundary 210, while other systems, such as the thermal energy storage system 702 and the energy conversion system 212, are located outside the nuclear facility-3E3 boundary 210.

The traditional use of nuclear power plants is the production of electricity. However, many new generation IV nuclear plants are designed with outlet temperatures above 500°C, which is significantly higher than the outlet temperatures of light water reactors (LWRs). Therefore, the potential applicability of this high-quality heat extends far beyond power generation. In this illustrated architecture, nuclear reactor 200 is used as a heat source, which is sent to a separate thermal energy storage system 702 that is located outside the nuclear facility boundary 210. In addition to carbon-free or near-carbon-free emissions coupled with the non-proliferation features of new nuclear reactors, this integrated power system architecture 1000 provides many beneficial features such as (1) reduced reactor costs and overall system cost, ( 2) ensuring flexible following (load) depending on the demand for electricity, as well as following profit in networks with a high penetration of renewable energy sources; (3) providing high temperature process heat at a price competitive with natural gas, which is currently not possible with LWR, and (4) providing hydrogen production through high temperature electrolysis.

These opportunities can dramatically reduce carbon emissions from industrial processes and the transport sector, which currently accounts for about 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the current barriers to nuclear plant selection is the pre-construction and licensing costs associated with building and operating a nuclear plant. One of the main cost drivers of nuclear plant construction is not the nuclear technology itself, but rather the cost of large-scale construction projects governed by strict nuclear standards. Consequently, one of the biggest promises for reducing capital costs is not necessarily in the technological progress of the reactor itself, but in the design of the plant. By greatly simplifying and reducing the scope and complexity of a nuclear facility construction project, as described herein, the major cost drivers associated with the construction of typical nuclear power plants are dramatically reduced. In the various architecture options described in this document, the nuclear plant and the scope of a nuclear power plant construction project are reduced to its simplest form. The simplified reactor becomes a producer of thermal energy and is referred to herein as a nuclear thermal plant.

In some embodiments, the interface between the nuclear thermal plant and the rest of the integrated energy system is a heat exchanger, and the remaining system components downstream of the heat exchanger are functionally and spatially separated from the nuclear thermal plant. In this architecture, the thermal energy storage and non-nuclear plant assets, including energy conversion systems, are built and operated in a less regulated, less expensive and fully commercialized environment.

Molten salt thermal storage systems are relatively inexpensive, in many cases orders of magnitude cheaper than batteries, and have reached GWh commercial readiness. Suitable thermal storage systems are currently used to support concentrating solar power. Moreover, a very small 3E3 area is possible due to the excellent safety advantages of the advanced nuclear reactors described herein, which allows these reactors to be located closer to heat consumers.

The integrated energy system described also addresses another challenge facing nuclear power in current and future electricity markets. For example, as the share of electricity generated by intermittent renewable sources increases, there is a large variation in electricity supply, with overproduction typically occurring between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm when solar power pushes electricity prices to very low levels or even negative

- 18 045573 numeric values. Modern nuclear plants typically have limited flexibility to quickly follow load and in some cases are forced to maintain a relatively high power factor to achieve a low levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Consequently, even if nuclear power plants can meet daily changing electricity demand, their LCOE increases, making it difficult for them to compete with alternative technologies. Salt thermal storage allows many types of nuclear thermal plants to operate at 100% capacity factor (or very close to it) and store energy in thermal energy storage tanks, such as salt tanks, and sell the electricity during periods when demand is high and the price is high.

An important factor in reducing greenhouse gas emissions is expanding decarbonization to other industrial processes. Energy consumption, primarily in the form of heat, in this sector is enormous, with the oil and chemical industries being the main consumers. The integrated energy system described in this document, with its high outlet temperatures of ~510-540°C or higher and thermal media compatible with these temperatures, makes it possible to supply heat to a large number of consumers up to temperatures of about 500°C, such as oil refineries, various chemical plants, soda ash production plants, pulp and paper plants, food industry enterprises and others. There is also great potential for cogeneration power plants, producing both heat and electricity.

The transport sector is responsible for the second largest share of global energy consumption after industrial production. Until recently, transport ran exclusively on gasoline fuel, with no clean nuclear energy in the sector. This is changing with the recent advent of electric vehicles powered by batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. An integrated energy system, such as the one described in this paper, can make both of these products carbon-free and have a significant impact on decarbonizing the transport sector.

The integrated energy systems described in this document can generate hydrogen using high temperature electrolysis and heat. The stored thermal energy can be used to produce steam from water, while hybrid energy such as electricity can be used to increase the temperature in the electrolyser to 750-900°C, for example through ohmic heating. In some embodiments, heat exchangers in the electrolyser can recover heat from the hydrogen and oxygen streams to reduce the amount of ohmic heating energy that is required to maintain the electrolyser temperature at a desired temperature, or in some cases above a temperature threshold. Moreover, the described integrated energy systems can simultaneously generate both electricity, for example, to charge car batteries, and hydrogen. For example, when electricity is not required, the generated thermal energy can be used to generate additional hydrogen and store the hydrogen for distribution over long distances, as is currently done with gasoline. Unlike GW-scale thermal storage, which is limited in duration to hours and relatively short transport distances, hydrogen can be stored for much longer and transported over longer distances. Therefore, an integrated energy system can be used to produce hydrogen, which can be stored for long periods of time, transported over long distances, and used later as a fuel source.

In some embodiments, the nuclear thermal plant and integrated energy system may be coupled, solely or partially, to a hydrogen production facility and may employ an electrolysis process that uses electricity to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. In some cases, an integrated power system can supply thermal energy for the generated steam that will be used in the steam-hydrogen reforming process of natural gas. In some cases, the high temperature electrolysis process is a process in which a significant amount of electrolysis energy can be provided by heat, which reduces the amount of electricity and thus reduces the cost of hydrogen production. In some cases, the high temperature electrolysis process uses thermal energy having a temperature of about 800° C., which can be provided by an integrated energy system as described herein.

Fig. 11 shows an integrated power system 1100 having a nuclear unit 1102 in communication with an integrated energy storage unit 1104. Integrated energy storage unit 1104 is in turn in communication with power unit 1106. Power unit 1106 may be in communication with external load 1108. According to some embodiments, nuclear unit 1102 includes one or more nuclear reactors, such as a nuclear power plant having nuclear facility boundary 1110 surrounding nuclear equipment, as described in

- 19 045573 standing document. One or more nuclear thermal plants may be included as part of the nuclear unit 1102, wherein one or more nuclear thermal plants may be coupled to the integrated energy storage unit 1104 and maintain their own separate nuclear facility boundaries 1110. The integrated energy storage unit 1104 may consist of any suitable thermal storage device as described herein and may include: for example, salt tanks that use a phase change material to store thermal energy at a stable temperature to obtain thermal energy from a nuclear unit. The integrated energy storage unit 1104, also referred to herein as a thermal storage system or thermal energy storage system, is separated from the nuclear unit 1102 by a boundary 1112, which may be defined by a nuclear facility boundary 1110. In some cases, the primary connection between the core unit 1102 and the integrated energy storage unit 1104 is provided by one or more heat exchangers that transfer thermal energy generated by the nuclear unit 1102 to the integrated energy storage unit 1104.

The integrated energy storage unit 1104 is in thermal communication with the power unit 1106. The thermal communication may be provided by one or more heat exchangers that are configured to transfer thermal energy from the integrated energy storage unit 1104 to the power unit 1106. The power unit 1106 may convert thermal energy into electricity, for example, this may be performed by a turbine, such as a steam turbine, or some other type of thermal energy conversion system into electrical energy. The power unit 1106 may use thermal energy to generate electricity for transmission to an external load 1108, such as an electrical grid.

As the world moves away from coal power plants, for any of a variety of reasons, equipment from retired coal power plants may be used by other energy sources. For example, when a coal-fired power plant is decommissioned, the equipment downstream of the boiler is independent of the heat source. For example, the turbine unit, switchgear, condensers, generators and electrical cables can still be used with another thermal energy source. These valuable assets that become stranded assets when a coal plant is retired create the opportunity for another carbon-free thermal energy source to continue to use the stranded assets to generate electricity.

According to some embodiments, the coal balance of a plant power unit (e.g., everything downstream of the boiler in the process) includes equipment such as a boiler shell, an overhead superheater, a high pressure turbine, reheaters, a medium pressure turbine, a low pressure turbine , condenser, feed pumps, deaerators, feed heaters, economizer, cooling tower, electrical generator, transformers and transmission system, as well as associated piping, instrumentation and controls. These stranded assets are independent of a source of thermal energy, which may be supplied by an integrated energy storage unit 1104 (eg, a thermal storage system) as described herein.

The integrated energy storage unit 1104 may obtain thermal energy from any of a number of thermal energy sources, such as one or more nuclear thermal power plants, solar thermal energy, geothermal energy, wind thermal energy, wave energy, or any other suitable thermal energy generator. According to some embodiments, the integrated energy storage unit 1104 allows any form of thermal energy to be combined and used with any form of power unit 1106, providing the added benefit of separating the nuclear unit 1102 from the power unit 1106.

This architecture offers many advantages. For example, there is a mandatory separation from the nuclear unit 1102 and all equipment located downstream from the integrated energy storage unit 1104, there is flexibility in connecting the nuclear unit 1102 to the power unit 1106. For example, the nuclear unit 1102 does not require coordination, in terms of output power, with the power block 1106. The nuclear block 1102 can operate at full power and transfer thermal energy to the integrated energy storage unit 1104, which can then provide thermal energy to drive the turbines of the power block 1106 in any suitable manner. Thus, the operation of the power unit 1106 is completely independent from the operation of the nuclear unit 1102.

According to some embodiments, the nuclear unit 1102 may operate at 100% power, but because the nuclear unit 1102 is separated from the power unit 1106 by an integrated energy storage unit 1104, the power unit 1106 is fully capable of following the load based on electrical demand.

The described architecture also leads to advantages in design efficiency. It is no longer necessary to match a nuclear reactor to a specific power block 1106. A generic reactor can be coupled to a generic power block, eliminating the need to design a new reactor to match the power of each arbitrary power block.

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A typical reactor means a reactor of any design and any power output. A typical power unit refers to any design, size, type and power output of a thermal-to-electricity conversion system and includes, for example, a steam generator.

In some embodiments, the integrated energy storage unit 1104 is configured to receive the power output of the nuclear unit 1102 and deliver thermal energy as required by the power unit 1106. In some embodiments, the described architecture allows for a combination design with one or more reactors that must be coupled to the power unit. block 1106. As an example, if a power unit requires 1600 MW of steam for a turbine, this requirement can be met with one 1600 MW reactor, two 800 MW reactors, one 1200 MW reactor and one 400 MW reactor, etc. d. In some cases, the integrated power storage unit 1104 operates as an aggregator of power from said one or more reactor designs, thereby providing flexibility, scalability, and, for a time, independence in connecting the power unit 1106 to one or more reactors, relying on the integrated power unit 1104 as a buffer. This further allows the nuclear block 1102 and the power block 1106 to be completely separate and independent in terms of design, construction and operation. An additional advantage is that the architecture allows the use of a single reactor design, for example a 400 MW power plant, used in combination with several types of power units (for example, 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, 2400 MW, etc.). In some embodiments, there may be a true mismatch between the nuclear unit 1102 and the power unit 1106, for example, a reactor unit 1102 that produces 1600 MW may be coupled to a power unit 1106 that produces 1500 MW. In other words, nuclear unit 1102 may have a thermal power output and power unit 1106 may have a thermal power input that is greater or less than the thermal power output of nuclear unit 1102. In other words, reactor unit 1102 may have a rated power that is different from the rated power. power unit 1106. In this document, the nameplate power is the continuous output power of the object at full load. Nameplate power is typically a number recorded by regulators to classify a plant's power output, and is usually measured in watts, megawatts, or gigawatts.

When used to describe the power block 1106, it can be used to refer to the power input to the power block 1106 that can be converted into electricity when the power block 1106 is operating at full power.

This type of discrepancy can be corrected in the ways described herein, for example, by using excess thermal energy for other purposes, by scaling the integrated energy storage unit and planning for a nuclear plant emergency shutdown, while at the same time ensuring that thermal energy is supplied to the power unit from the integrated energy storage unit or allowing the nuclear unit 1102 to charge the integrated energy storage unit 1104 during times of reduced power demand, to name a few. In some cases, the power block 1106 can be quickly scaled to a power output below 100% power, while the nuclear block 1102 can be operated at 100% operating power.

Likewise, the reactor unit 1102 may be coupled to an integrated energy storage unit 1104 having a mismatch between the thermal power generation power of the nuclear unit 1102 and the thermal power of the thermal energy storage unit 1104. In other words, the nuclear unit 1102 may have a generation power that is lower than the storage power of the thermal energy storage unit. In some cases, the generating capacity of the reactor unit may be on the order of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 or 80% of the storage capacity of the thermal energy storage unit.

In some cases, nuclear unit 1102 produces thermal energy at a temperature that may not be ideal for power unit 1106. As an example, nuclear unit 1102 may provide an outlet temperature of 500°C, and power unit 1106 may require steam at 550°C. In these cases, the temperature deficit can be made up by (1) a peak reservoir that can heat the thermal storage medium to a higher temperature, (2) adding additional thermal energy to the steam before it passes through the turbines, (3) running the turbine at a lower efficiency, or using some other solution to resolve the temperature mismatch.

In some embodiments, hybrid technology may be used to supplement the thermal energy of nuclear unit 1102. For example, when power unit 1106 requires an inlet steam temperature higher than nuclear unit 1102 can provide, an alternative technology such as ohmic heating, natural gas, hydrogen, or whatever - another energy source may be used to achieve the maximum steam temperature to operate the power unit 1106 with suitable efficiency.

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In accordance with some embodiments, the use of stranded power unit 1106 assets in an integrated power system 1100 along with a nuclear thermal plant provides numerous benefits. For example, the facility is already approved and in operation, the site selection has already been made, it allows hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to be used for future use in carbon-free power generation rather than scrapped, and the facility is already connected to the transmission infrastructure and connected to the electrical grid, and also provides other benefits.

The above discussion of combining nuclear unit 1102 and integrated energy storage unit 1104 with the stranded assets of coal power unit 1106 is equally applicable to the stranded natural gas assets. As a gas power plant is taken out of service for any of a variety of reasons, the power blocks of these plants can be used by connecting the power block 1106 to an integrated energy storage unit 1104, which provides thermal energy to drive the turbines of the gas power plant. The integrated energy storage unit 1104 may obtain thermal energy from any of a variety of different sources, such as one or more nuclear reactors, solar thermal energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydroelectric power, or any other suitable thermal energy source.

In some cases, when the power unit 1106 requires temperatures higher than the output temperature of the integrated energy storage unit 1104, a decommissioned gas power plant will have an available source of natural gas that can be used to increase the temperature of the thermal storage medium or turbine operating fluid to improve efficiency. turbine cycle. In addition, the power block 1106 itself can generate power at a lower efficiency due to suboptimal inlet steam pressure and divert a portion of the generated power to achieve the maximum inlet steam temperature and gradually increase its efficiency as the inlet steam temperature increases to a more ideal temperature for power block.

According to some embodiments, it is possible for abandoned sites to utilize orphaned equipment by combining it with an integrated energy storage unit 1104 and a nuclear unit 1102. Using existing infrastructure available at abandoned sites, it is possible to utilize an otherwise difficult to use asset that is needed restored and converted into a carbon-free energy production facility at a much lower cost than new construction, with less time and licensing and commissioning costs, and the facility can be redeveloped to produce positive results.

The embodiments described herein provide an integrated energy system that separates the thermal energy source from the energy conversion system, which provides a modular, scalable, efficient system that can be used to meet base load electrical requirements, peak electrical load requirements, and industrial process heat. . One or more thermal energy sources, such as, for example, but not limited to, one or more nuclear reactors of various types, solar power plants, geothermal energy sources, may be associated with general non-nuclear plant equipment, such as thermal storage and energy conversion systems.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any process or method disclosed herein can be modified in many ways. The process parameters and sequence of steps described and/or illustrated herein are given as examples only and are subject to change as desired. For example, although the steps illustrated and/or described herein may be shown or discussed in a particular order, the steps need not be performed in the order shown or discussed.

Various exemplary methods described and/or illustrated herein may also omit one or more of the steps described or illustrated herein, or contain additional steps in addition to those disclosed. In addition, a step of any method described herein may be combined with any one or more steps of any other method disclosed herein.

Unless otherwise specified, the terms connected to and associated with (and their derivatives) as used in the specification and claims are to be construed to permit both direct and indirect (i.e., through other elements or components) connection. In addition, the singular terms used in the specification and claims are to be construed to mean at least one of. Finally, for ease of use, the terms including and having (and their derivatives) as used in the specification and claims are used interchangeably and have the same meaning as the word containing.

As used herein, the term or is used inclusive to refer to

- 22 045573 elements in alternative and combination. Symbols such as numbers used in this document refer to similar elements.

Embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described as set forth herein and are presented by way of example only. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize numerous adaptations, changes, variations and substitutions without departing from the scope of the present invention. Several alternatives and combinations of the embodiments disclosed herein may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention and the inventions disclosed herein. Therefore, the scope of the inventions now disclosed should be determined solely by the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. This invention also includes the following numbered claims.

1. System containing:

a nuclear reactor located at a nuclear facility, a boundary of a nuclear facility surrounding a nuclear reactor, wherein the boundary of the nuclear facility is formed by one or more barriers preventing access to the nuclear facility, a thermal energy storage system located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility, wherein the thermal energy storage system is located in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor, and a power generator located in thermal communication with the thermal energy storage system, and the power generator is located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a containment vessel, the nuclear reactor being enclosed within the containment vessel.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a fuel handling zone, wherein the fuel handling zone is located inside the boundary of the nuclear facility.

4. The system according to claim 1, in which the thermal energy storage system is in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor through an energy transfer system.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the power transmission system comprises a fluid circuit that creates a closed loop between the nuclear reactor and the thermal energy storage system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the fluid circuit of the power transmission system is in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor through the first heat exchanger and in thermal communication with the thermal energy storage system through the second heat exchanger.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the fluid circuit comprises a working fluid.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the working fluid contains a chloride salt.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the working fluid contains sodium nitrate.

10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the working fluid comprises a eutectic solution.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the working fluid comprises a phase change material.

12. The system according to claim 7, wherein the working fluid contains an alloy with an immiscibility range.

13. The system according to claim 7, wherein the working fluid contains molten metal or a metal alloy.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the first heat exchanger or the second heat exchanger is a shell-and-tube heat exchanger.

15. The system according to claim 6, wherein the first heat exchanger or the second heat exchanger is a two-pipe heat exchanger.

16. The system according to claim 6, wherein the first heat exchanger or the second heat exchanger is a plate heat exchanger.

17. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a hydrogen generator connected to a thermal energy storage system.

18. The system according to claim 1, in which the border of the nuclear facility contains a fence.

19. The system according to claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a fast neutron reactor.

20. The system according to claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a breeder reactor.

21. The system according to claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a thermal neutron reactor.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a heavy water nuclear reactor.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a light water nuclear reactor.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a molten salt nuclear reactor.

25. The system according to claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a liquid metal cooled reactor.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a gas-cooled nuclear reactor.

27. The system according to claim 1, wherein the thermal energy storage system is connected to an energy conversion system whose thermal input power exceeds the thermal output power of the nuclear reactor.

28. The system according to claim 1, in which the thermal energy storage system is a system

- 23 045573 topic of low pressure.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the energy transfer system is configured to transfer thermal energy from the nuclear reactor to the thermal energy storage system.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the power transmission system is a low pressure system.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein the power generator is in thermal contact with the thermal energy storage system via the energy delivery system.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the energy delivery system comprises a closed fluid circuit.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the closed fluid loop contains molten salt.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the energy delivery system comprises a working fluid that is in direct contact with a thermal storage medium in the thermal energy storage system.

35. The system according to claim 1, in which the power generator is a steam turbine.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the steam turbine converts steam into mechanical work.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising an electric generator coupled to the steam turbine by an output shaft of the steam turbine, and mechanical operation causing the electric generator to generate electricity.

38. The system according to claim 37, in which the power generator is configured as a power generation system after the load.

39. The system of claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a first nuclear reactor, and the system also includes a second nuclear reactor.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the second nuclear reactor is located at the second nuclear facility within the boundary of the second nuclear facility, and the thermal energy storage system and power generator are located outside the boundary of the second nuclear facility.

41. The system according to claim 1, also containing an auxiliary heat storage system located in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor.

42. The system according to claim 41, in which the auxiliary heat storage system is configured to regulate the temperature at the inlet of the nuclear reactor core.

43. The system according to claim 1, also comprising a solar thermal energy system in thermal communication with a thermal energy storage system.

44. The system of claim 1, further comprising an emergency planning zone around the nuclear reactor, wherein the thermal energy storage system and power generator are located outside the emergency planning zone.

45. The system according to any of the preceding paragraphs, in which the nuclear reactor includes a housing, within which, at least partially, a primary coolant circuit is located, and a primary heat exchanger in thermal communication with the primary coolant circuit.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the primary heat exchanger is a sodium salt heat exchanger.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein the primary heat exchanger transfers thermal energy from the core to a working fluid of the thermal energy storage system.

48. System containing:

a nuclear reactor located inside the boundary of a nuclear facility, wherein the nuclear reactor has a housing, a heat exchanger located inside the reactor body, wherein the heat exchanger is configured to allow thermal contact of the primary coolant located inside the reactor body with a salt coolant located in the coolant circuit, and a thermal storage system energy located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility and configured to receive thermal energy from the salt coolant in the coolant circuit.

49. The system of claim 48, also comprising a power generation system in thermal communication with a thermal energy storage system, wherein the power generation system is located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the nuclear reactor has a first power rating and the power generation system has a second power rating, wherein the second power rating is greater than the first rating power.

51. System containing:

a nuclear reactor having a thermal power output, and a power generation system having a thermal power input and in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor, wherein the thermal power input is greater than the thermal power output.

52. The system of claim 51, further comprising a thermal storage system located between the nuclear reactor and the power generation system, wherein the thermal storage system receives thermal power from the nuclear reactor and transfers thermal power to the power generation system.

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Claims (16)

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the thermal storage system is sized to transfer more thermal power than a nuclear reactor can provide. 54. The system according to claim 51, also containing the boundary of a nuclear facility, wherein the nuclear reactor is located inside the boundary of the facility. 55. The system of claim 54, wherein the power generation system is located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility. 56. The system of any one of the preceding claims, comprising a primary heat exchanger that is a sodium-salt heat exchanger. 57. The system according to claim 56, in which the primary heat exchanger is located inside the nuclear reactor vessel. 58. The system according to claim 57, in which the primary heat exchanger is in thermal communication with the heat storage system. 59. The system according to claim 52, also comprising a second nuclear reactor in thermal communication with the heat storage system. 60. The system of claim 59, wherein the second nuclear reactor is a reactor different from the design of said nuclear reactor. 61. The system according to claim 52, also comprising a solar thermal installation in thermal communication with a heat storage system. 62. The system according to claim 52, also containing a wind thermal installation located in thermal communication with the heat storage system. 63. A system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the nuclear reactor is separated from the thermal storage system and the power generation system. 64. The system of any one of the preceding claims, also comprising a hydrogen generator that receives thermal energy to produce hydrogen. 65. The system of claim 64, wherein the hydrogen generator comprises an electrolyser. 66. The system of claim 65, wherein the hydrogen generator generates hydrogen through a high temperature electrolysis process. 67. The system of claim 64, wherein the hydrogen generator produces hydrogen through a steam reforming process of natural gas. CLAIM 1. Integrated energy system containing: a nuclear reactor located at a nuclear facility surrounded by a boundary of the nuclear facility, wherein the boundary of the nuclear facility is formed by one or more barriers preventing access to the nuclear facility and surrounded by an emergency planning area around the nuclear reactor; a thermal energy storage system located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility and outside the emergency planning zone, wherein the thermal energy storage system is in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor; and a power generator located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility and outside the emergency planning area and in thermal communication with the thermal energy storage system. 2. The system according to claim 1, in which the thermal energy storage system is in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor through an energy transfer system. 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the power transmission system comprises a fluid circuit that creates a closed loop between the nuclear reactor and the thermal energy storage system. 4. The system of claim 4, wherein the fluid circuit of the power transmission system is in thermal communication with the nuclear reactor through the first heat exchanger and in thermal communication with the thermal energy storage system through the second heat exchanger. 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the fluid circuit contains salt as the working fluid. 6. The system according to claim 1, in which the border of the nuclear facility contains a fence. 7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the thermal energy storage system is connected to an energy conversion system whose thermal input power exceeds the thermal output power of the nuclear reactor. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the power generator is in thermal contact with the thermal energy storage system through an energy delivery system using molten salt as the working fluid. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the nuclear reactor is a first nuclear reactor, the system further comprising a second nuclear reactor in thermal communication with the thermal energy storage system. 10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the second nuclear reactor is located at the second nuclear facility within the boundary of the second nuclear facility, and the thermal energy storage system and generator - 25,045,573 capacities are located outside the border of the second nuclear facility. 11. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a solar thermal energy system in thermal communication with a thermal energy storage system. 12. The system according to claim 1, in which the nuclear reactor contains a vessel, a primary coolant circuit located inside the reactor vessel, and a primary heat exchanger in thermal communication with the primary coolant circuit. 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the primary heat exchanger is a sodium salt heat exchanger. 14. Integrated energy system containing: a nuclear reactor located at a nuclear facility, surrounded by a boundary of the nuclear facility, wherein the boundary of the nuclear facility is formed by one or more barriers preventing access to the nuclear facility, and surrounded by an emergency planning area around the nuclear reactor, wherein the nuclear reactor has a vessel; a heat exchanger located inside the reactor vessel, wherein the heat exchanger is configured to provide thermal contact of the primary coolant located inside the reactor vessel with the salt coolant located in the coolant circuit; and a thermal energy storage system located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility and outside the emergency planning zone and configured to receive thermal energy from the salt coolant in the coolant loop. 15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a power generation system in thermal communication with a thermal energy storage system, wherein the power generation system is located outside the boundary of the nuclear facility and outside the emergency planning area. 16. Integrated energy system containing: at least one nuclear reactor located at at least one nuclear facility surrounded by the boundary of said at least one nuclear facility, wherein the boundary of said at least one nuclear facility is formed by one or more barriers preventing access to said at least one nuclear facility facility, and surrounded by an emergency planning zone around said at least one nuclear reactor, wherein said at least one nuclear reactor has a thermal output; a thermal energy storage system located outside the boundary of the at least one nuclear facility and outside the emergency planning zone; and a power generation system located outside the boundary of the at least one nuclear facility and outside the emergency planning zone, and having a thermal input power, and being in thermal communication with the at least one nuclear reactor, wherein the thermal energy storage system is located between the at least one nuclear reactor and a power generation system, wherein the thermal energy storage system receives a thermal power output from the at least one nuclear reactor and transmits a thermal power input to the power generation system, wherein said thermal power input is greater than said thermal power output. -