Nuclear power plant models

H2Integrate currently includes two nuclear converter options:

• QuinnNuclearPerformanceModel with QuinnNuclearCostModel for an electricity-only nuclear plant, based on Quinn et al. (2023)

• SimpleThermalNuclearReactorPerformanceModel with SimpleThermalNuclearReactorCostModel for a thermal reactor that can trade off electricity production and process heat delivery. This is a simplified thermal reactor representation intended for coupled workflows such as nuclear plus a high-temp steam electrolyzer (HTSE).

Quinn electricity-only nuclear model

Use this model by setting:

• performance model: QuinnNuclearPerformanceModel

• cost model: QuinnNuclearCostModel

This model produces electricity only and clips commanded output to rated plant capacity.

API details

For API details, see the QuinnNuclearPerformanceModel and QuinnNuclearCostModel API documentation.

References

• Quinn, J. et al., 2023. Small modular reactor light water reactor techno-economic analysis. Applied Energy 120669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120669

Simple thermal nuclear reactor model

You can use this model by setting (in your tech_config.yaml):

• performance model: SimpleThermalNuclearReactorPerformanceModel

• cost model: SimpleThermalNuclearReactorCostModel

This model represents a reactor with:

• a high-pressure electric conversion stage

• a low-pressure electric conversion stage

• an extractable process heat stream, extracted upstream of the low-pressure turbine stages (dashed red arrow in the figure)

The model was developed to provide both heat and electricity for high-temperature steam electrolysis as modeled in HTSEPerformanceModel and HTSEPerformanceModel. The integrated thermal-nuclear and HTSE system is shown in the figure below. However, the models were implemented in such a way as to allow integration with other technologies.

It supports two operating modes:

• heat: In heat mode, delivered heat is limited by available process heat and requested heat demand. Remaining low-pressure heat is converted to electricity.

• electricity: In electricity mode, electricity is limited by the command value and rated capacity. Remaining process heat is then outputted as heat_out.

Thermal reactor dispatch logic

The model computes a combined electric efficiency:

\[ \eta_{combined} = \eta_{hp} + (1 - \eta_{hp}) \eta_{lp} \]

Then infers thermal capacity from rated electrical capacity:

\[ P_{thermal} = \frac{P_{electric,rated}}{\eta_{combined}} \]

API details

For API details, see the SimpleThermalNuclearReactorPerformanceModel and SimpleThermalNuclearReactorCostModel API documentation.