Study of hydrogen generation plant coupled to high temperature gas cooled reactor
Abstract
Hydrogen generation using a high temperature nuclear reactor as a thermal driving vector is a promising future option for energy carrier production. In this scheme, the heat from the nuclear reactor drives an endothermic water-splitting plant, via coupling, through an intermediate heat exchanger. While both high temperature nuclear reactors and hydrogen generation plants have high individual degrees of development, study of the coupled plant is lacking. Particularly absent are considerations of the transient behavior of the coupled plant, as well as studies of the safety of the overall plant. The aim of this document is to contribute knowledge to the effort of nuclear hydrogen generation. In particular, this study regards identification of safety issues in the coupled plant and the transient modeling of some leading candidates for implementation in the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI). The Sulfur Iodine (SI) and Hybrid Sulfur (HyS) cycles are considered as candidate hydrogen generation schemes. Several thermodynamically derived chemical reaction chamber models are coupled to a well-known reference design of a high temperature nuclear reactor. These chemical reaction chamber models have several dimensions of validation, including detailed steady state flowsheets, integrated loop test data, and bench scale chemical kinetics. Eight unique case studies are performed based on a thorough literature review of possible events. The case studies are: (1) feed flow failure from one section of the chemical plant to another, (2) product flow failure (recycle) within the chemical plant, (3) rupture or explosion within the chemical plant, (4) nuclear reactor helium inlet overcooling due to a process holding tank failure, (5) helium inlet overcooling as an anticipated transient without SCRAM, (6) total failure of the chemical plant, (7) parametric study of the temperature in an individual reaction chamber, and (8) control rod insertion in the nuclear reactor. Various parametric studies based on the magnitude of the events were also performed. The results of the study indicate that, preliminarily, there are no significant barriers to the nuclear safety of a coupled high temperature nuclear reactor and chemical plant, although numerous operational issues must be resolved. The only secondary-side events that caused a positive power excursion in the nuclear reactor were helium-inlet overcoolings due to process holding tank failures or reaction chamber ruptures. Even for severe sustained overcooling, the calculated maximum fuel temperature is 200 K below the design basis limit.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Revankar, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Nuclear engineering
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