Nuclear Trigeneration as an Alternative Power Source for the University of Calgary

Abstract

Society demands more and more energy, in different forms with new technology providing innovative ways to fulfill these needs. Nuclear energy has been a rapidly developing source of electricity, serving as the base load of a net zero grid. Currently, the main source of energy in Albera’s grid is natural gas. This includes the University of Calgary, which has its own natural gas plant with cogeneration infrastructure to supply electricity and heat to the campus. This paper investigates the University of Calgary taking the first step towards changing the energy mix to align with the goal of net zero. Nuclear microreactors accompanied by the universities’ existing cogeneration infrastructure is one way to accomplish this. The following will center around a discussion of the attractiveness of the eVinci microreactor implemented with trigeneration, located on the University of Calgary campus.