抄録
To further the effort of coal-to-nuclear (C2N) research, the pros and cons of integrating small modular, high temperature gas cooled, and molten salt nuclear reactor technologies with existing coal plant infrastructure at the Limestone coal plant near Jewett, Texas, USA, were analyzed. Reactor operating characteristics were compared against the Limestone coal plant. The technical requirements and feasibility of various integration schemes were assessed to determine what, if any, reactor technology is optimal for C2N at Limestone. In this analysis large light water reactors were excluded as the size and capacity of these reactors adds regulatory, licensing, and technical complexities that likely make most C2N integration schemes infeasible for these designs.
Results from this analysis imply that there is no one-size-fitsall approach to nuclear technology integration with Limestone. Each nuclear design being investigated has advantages and disadvantages that have to be weighed against cost, risk, and C2N integration complexity. Furthermore, the technical specifications of the coal plant in question, in addition to the requirements for maintaining or replacing existing plant components, will heavily influence which nuclear designs and transition schemes are most suitable for a given C2N project. Future work can build on this research by performing decommission analyses of specific coal plants to determine what components can be reused and which will need to be replaced, factoring in cost and risk of integrations, and performing a detailed plant integration analysis of the specific reactor technology at specific coal plants.
