HTGR Closed Cycle GT Plant Analysis: Options and Procedures for Startup With Hot Gas Injection

Author(s):  
K. N. Pradeep Kumar ◽  
A. Tourlidakis ◽  
P. Pilidis

The Starting up and Shutting down of a closed cycle gas turbine power plant needs special attention due to the inter-dependable nature of the components. Achieving self-sustainability in a fast and efficient way within the mechanical constraints is the challenge in the start-up of a closed cycle. The Nuclear reactor as the heat source will add more complexity to the system. The paper looks into the various options available for the start up and shutdown of a closed cycle Helium turbine using a gas cooled reactor as the heat source. A comparative analysis of these options is carried out by simulating various operating scenarios using a Transient Simulation Computer Programme especially prepared for an HTGR Project called PBMR (Pebble Bed Modular Reactor), which is being carried out in South Africa. The simulation was focused on the power conversion side of the plant, which includes all the Turbocompressors, Turbogenerator, Heat exchangers, Valves etc. Based on the analysis and its findings, an outline of a start up and shutdown procedure for a 3-shaft Closed Cycle Turbine Power Plant using hot gas injection is proposed in the paper.

Author(s):  
L. D. Stoughton ◽  
T. V. Sheehan

A nuclear power plant is proposed which combines the advantages of a liquid metal fueled reactor with those inherent in a closed cycle gas turbine. The reactor fuel is a solution of uranium in molten bismuth which allows for unlimited burn-up with continuous fuel make-up and processing. The fuel can either be contained in a graphite core structure or circulated through an external heat exchanger. The cycle working fluid is an inert gas which is heated by the reactor fuel before entering the turbine. A 15 MW closed cycle gas turbine system is shown to illustrate the application of this reactor.


Author(s):  
Colin F. McDonald

With the capability of burning a variety of fossil fuels, giving high thermal efficiency, and operating with low emissions, the gas turbine is becoming a major prime-mover for a wide spectrum of applications. Almost three decades ago two experimental projects were undertaken in which gas turbines were actually operated with heat from nuclear reactors. In retrospect, these systems were ahead of their time in terms of technology readiness, and prospects of the practical coupling of a gas turbine with a nuclear heat source towards the realization of a high efficiency, pollutant free, dry-cooled power plant has remained a long-term goal, which has been periodically studied in the last twenty years. Technology advancements in both high temperature gas-cooled reactors, and gas turbines now make the concept of a nuclear gas turbine plant realizable. Two possible plant concepts are highlighted in this paper, (1) a direct cycle system involving the integration of a closed-cycle helium gas turbine with a modular high temperature gas cooled reactor (MHTGR), and (2) the utilization of a conventional and proven combined cycle gas turbine, again with the MHTGR, but now involving the use of secondary (helium) and tertiary (air) loops. The open cycle system is more equipment intensive and places demanding requirements on the very high temperature heat exchangers, but has the merit of being able to utilize a conventional combined cycle turbo-generator set. In this paper both power plant concepts are put into perspective in terms of categorizing the most suitable applications, highlighting their major features and characteristics, and identifying the technology requirements. The author would like to dedicate this paper to the late Professor Karl Bammert who actively supported deployment of the closed-cycle gas turbine for several decades with a variety of heat sources including fossil, solar, and nuclear systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel O. Osigwe ◽  
Arnold Gad-Briggs ◽  
Theoklis Nikolaidis ◽  
Pericles Pilidis ◽  
Suresh Sampath

Abstract As demands for clean and sustainable energy renew interests in nuclear power to meet future energy demands, generation IV nuclear reactors are seen as having the potential to provide the improvements required for nuclear power generation. However, for their benefits to be fully realized, it is important to explore the performance of the reactors when coupled to different configurations of closed-cycle gas turbine power conversion systems. The configurations provide variation in performance due to different working fluids over a range of operating pressures and temperatures. The objective of this paper is to undertake analyses at the design and off-design conditions in combination with a recuperated closed-cycle gas turbine and comparing the influence of carbon dioxide and nitrogen as the working fluid in the cycle. The analysis is demonstrated using an in-house tool, which was developed by the authors. The results show that the choice of working fluid controls the range of cycle operating pressures, temperatures, and overall performance of the power plant due to the thermodynamic and heat properties of the fluids. The performance results favored the nitrogen working fluid over CO2 due to the behavior CO2 below its critical conditions. The analyses intend to aid the development of cycles for generation IV nuclear power plants (NPPs) specifically gas-cooled fast reactors (GFRs) and very high-temperature reactors (VHTRs).


Author(s):  
Emmanuel O. Osigwe ◽  
Arnold Gad-Briggs ◽  
Theoklis Nikolaidis ◽  
Pericles Pilidis ◽  
Suresh Sampath

With renewed interest in nuclear power to meet the world’s future energy demand, the Generation IV nuclear reactors are the next step in the deployment of nuclear power generation. However, for the potentials of these nuclear reactor designs to be fully realized, its suitability, when coupled with different configurations of closed-cycle gas turbine power conversion systems, have to be explored and performance compared for various possible working fluids over a range of operating pressures and temperatures. The purpose of this paper is to carry out performance analysis at the design and off-design conditions for a Generation IV nuclear-powered reactor in combination with a recuperated closed-cycle gas turbine and comparing the influence of carbon dioxide and nitrogen as working fluid in the cycle. This analysis is demonstrated in GTACYSS; a performance and preliminary design code developed by the authors for closed-cycle gas turbine simulations. The results obtained shows that the choice of working fluid controls the range of cycle operating pressures, temperatures and overall performance of the power plant due to the thermodynamic and heat properties of the fluids. The performance results favored the nitrogen working fluid over CO2 due to the behavior CO2 below its critical conditions.


1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Pradhan

This paper presents a closed cycle gas turbine power plant to utilize low temperature and low quality geothermal steam and water, that cannot be utilized in a steam turbine type of power plant. Fluids which have critical temperatures below 300 F, the usual geothermal water temperatures, can be utilized. This paper compares performances of power cycles using various fluids and establishes that carbon dioxide is the most suitable fluid for this application. The paper then compares performances of carbon dioxide cycles and establishes the best thermodynamic region for cycle operation. The generalized characteristics approach was used to analyze cycle performances and is briefly presented. It enables quick comparisons to be made for selection of an optimum cycle. The paper then considers a 2000-kw power plant operating on a closed CO2 cycle, establishes the geothermal water requirements and the system design. System control, and start-up problems are also discussed.


Author(s):  
G. A. K. Crommelin

This paper should be read in conjunction with the paper The NEREUS installation — the nuclear part (HTR). This part will discuss the non-nuclear part of the nuclear gas turbine installation called the NEREUS installation. It will discuss the non-nuclear part of a modular energy production installation consisting of an inherently safe, helium cooled, graphite moderated nuclear reactor, which acts as heat source to an energy conversion unit consisting of a closed-cycle recuperative gas turbine driving a generator (abbreviated as HTR-GT) (see also ref. 11 and 12). The paper is based upon an ongoing study, supported by specialists and scientists, among others of the Delft University of Technology, of most aspects concerning this type of power producing unit. This paper will discuss its (non-nuclear) components, efficiency, market potential and costing in comparison with existing and comparable installations. So it will report on a pre-feasibility study, based upon existing reports, publications, estimations by specialists and from active projects.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (05) ◽  
pp. 58-59
Author(s):  
Lee S. Langston

This article discusses various features of supercharged gas turbine and supercharged analysis. One 400 MW supercharged gas turbine power plant variant analysed by Wettstein yielded a predicted thermal efficiency of 60 percent, rivaling current combined cycle values. The supercharged gas turbine power plant proposed by Wettstein is a semi-closed (SC) cycle. The SC cycle is an amalgamation of closed and open cycles. It consists of a gas turbine having an internal combustor for energy input to the cycle. With a SC cycle, a designer now has some of the best features of both open and closed to move SC power plant operation in different directions. With internal combustion, the SC cycle is not constrained by the temperature limitations of the closed cycle. The supercharged gas turbine power plant looks very promising. In another ASME paper, Wettstein shows how gas turbine supercharging could benefit marine propulsion.


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