An option for integration of Carnot Battery into a small Nuclear Power Plant

Ana Borissova, Dimityr Popov, I. Nastase, A.H. Wierling, T. Totev, A. Terziev, R. Atanasova, D. Krasteva, M. Zlateva, I. Dukov, K. Filipov
2020 E3S Web of Conferences  
This article proposes a combination of nuclear power plant and grid-scale energy storage, classified as Carnot battery. The electric heater heats molten salts when excess electricity is available in the grid. The steam that is produced in a small modular nuclear reactor is heated with hot molten salts in the external super-heater. For continuous superheating to be ensured, the plant is equipped with molten salt thermal energy storage. The combined plant and reference NPP are modelled and
more » ... ed at steady-state conditions. Due to the higher turbine inlet temperature, the efficiency of the combined generation-storage nuclear plant is substantially improved. The proposed concept makes the co-location of NPP and Carnot Battery more attractive than the separate plants. The integrated thermal storage acts as secondary electricity storage. As such, it surpasses compressed air storage and is competitive with the pumped hydro storage, in the absence of their geographical and environmental constraints.
doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202020701027 fatcat:bzn25vr2lfgfln342bsegbyzii