Diverting steam created in a nuclear reactor to produce electricity more economically
Name
1011352578-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
1.76 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
4696f4c225c4bc8e83ed3c7e37ed16f0
Author(s)
Shifflet, Natalie J
Advisor(s)
Charles W. Forsberg.
Date Issued
2017
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Nuclear power is not as economically competitive as other electricity generation methods. To increase the use of nuclear power, nuclear power must become more profitable. A way to accomplish this is by storing superfluous energy during times of low energy prices to be used when the electricity price is greater. This could be done by varying the load to the turbine by diverting steam from before the turbine while the nuclear reactor runs at full power. In order to understand this project idea of diverting steam to a thermal storage to increase profit, literature on nuclear systems, steam turbines, and regulations was analyzed. It was found that between 40% and 75% of steam can be diverted from the secondary system of a pressurized water reactor. This number depends on the specific reactor and turbine system. The energy of the steam will be stored through a thermal storage method that can be directly or indirectly connected to the diverted steam. Each set-up comes with its advantages and disadvantages as adding a heat exchanger loses work, but would make regulatory considerations easier.
Description
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2017.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 22-24).
Subjects
Nuclear Science and Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
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