Optimization of nuclear powered remote microgrid integrated energy systems

Abstract

Nuclear microreactors have the potential to provide heat and power to remote communities around the world. Thermodynamic designs for two nuclear-powered remote microgrid systems were modeled balancing thermal and electrical production and consumption and evaluating different equipment configurations; optimal selection of equipment and the resulting dynamic energy distribution were calculated to minimize capital investment and simultaneously reduce reliance on emitting sources, using Holistic Energy Resource Optimization Network (HERON), a technoeconomic optimization tool. The systems use a microreactor coupled to a thermal energy storage system to provide heat and power for a remote microgrid. Using HERON, an integrated energy system (IES) designed to provide electricity and district heating for the town of Nome, Alaska was found to have optimal reactor size of 11.39 MWth and optimal thermal energy storage (TES) sizes of 17.64 MWhth. Another IES was designed to provide electricity, district heating, and power for a synthetic liquid hydrocarbon fuels plant for the remote Antarctic McMurdo research station was found to have an optimal reactor and TES sizes of 124.6 MWth and 21.6 MWhth, respectively. The results from the HERON models for both scenarios were validated using physics based dynamic models developed in the Modelica language. The dynamic models matched reasonably well with the dispatch from HERON, with improved accuracy for scenarios with lower variability. This paper expands upon previous work on nuclear microgrid IES optimization, which examined deployment of a microreactor based Integrated Energy System for electricity production and desalination on the island of El Hierro, Spain.