Diverting steam created in a nuclear reactor to produce electricity more economically

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.