Nuclear process heat application options: Highlights from the European GEMINI+ project

The European Nuclear Cogeneration Industrial Initiative (www.nc2i.eu) has run the GEMINI+ project (http://www.gemini-initiative.com/geminiplus/) from 2017 through 2020 with the objective of supporting the industrial demonstration of a cogeneration High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) power plant. This should help de-risk further projects and accelerate deployment. Recently, the Polish government has reconfirmed its interest, in particular to reduce the country’s carbon footprint and its dependence on natural gas imports both for heating purposes and as a feedstock for chemical products. The GEMINI+ project has performed several studies about how to use process heat from an HTGR for a variety of industrial purposes. These are of interest for most industrialized countries, and they often enable the integration of nuclear energy in Hybrid Energy Systems with variable renewables: • Nitrogen fertilizers and chemical products • Hydrocarbon or ammonia synthesis • Dry reforming of methane with CO2 to produce syngas as a feedstock for numerous chemicals • Hydrogen production for integration of nuclear energy in Hybrid Energy Systems This paper provides an overview of these studies and concludes with an impact analysis by evaluating the market and CO2 savings potential of these technologies.

FUETTERER Michael;  PABARCIUS R.;  HÜBNER Sebastian;  PIENKOWSKI Ludwik;  BRUDEK Wojciech;  DARNOWSKI Piotr;  PAWLUCZYK Michal;  CHMIELARZ Blazej;  SILHAN Martin; 

2022-09-06

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA

JRC121438

0029-5493 (online),   

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2022.111879,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC121438,   

10.1016/j.nucengdes.2022.111879 (online),