Steam Temperature Boosting for Nuclear Sourced Industrial Heat Provision

Abstract

New nuclear technologies, and in particular Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), have seen growing interest in their potential to provide industrial heat to decarbonize heavy industry. Previous studies consider reactor outlet temperature and/or process steam supply temperature to determine the potential for industrial heat provision. This paper explores using steam temperature boosting as a practical way to utilize nuclear heat more broadly, including for high temperature industrial heat applications. Various options for steam temperature boosting discussed in this paper include electric superheating, fuel superheating, chemical heat pumps, and hydrogen/oxygen steam generation. Per the research undertaken, superheating via electricity or fuel-fired boilers are most applicable and market-ready however the trade-off between site-specific process efficiency, pollutant emissions and the costs needs to be considered. Steam compression can be used to fill niche applications with other novel methods potentially becoming more relevant in the future. Every proposed implementation should be reviewed against all technology options for site-specific circumstances and potential process synergies.