Coupling Integral Molten Salt Reactor Technology with Hybrid Nuclear/Renewable Energy Systems [video]
Authors
Kutsch, John
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2018-01-26
Date
January 26, 2018
Publisher
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
Language
en_US
Abstract
The Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) represents a clean energy alternative to fossil fuel combustion for industrial heat and provision, which is compact, efficient, and cost-competitive with fossil fuels. The IMSR is a Gen 4 reactor and a successor of the very effective Molten Salt Reactor Experiment work of Oak Ridge National Lab. Terrestrial Energy USA is now working with Idaho National Laboratory to couple the IMSR to advanced industrial systems. Several systems have been designed and proposed. These can serve energy-intensive industries with stable heat and power for clean H2, O2 production, and by extension ammonia and methanol production. Desalination is also a very significant market sector for the IMSR heat and power. IMSR has the potential to be a truly transformative energy technology, and when coupled to advanced industrial systems, IMSR enables new, truly transformative clean industries. The IMSR demonstrates that power generation systems designed explicitly for electricity generation are no longer a necessary constraint. Nuclear energy can provide new opportunities for variable renewable energy systems by allowing them to contribute to a common reservoir of thermal battery storage without stressing the grid system. The IMSR enables the idealized deep decarbonization desperately sought after by climate-conscious industrialists, such as Google.org. In the Google.org experiment, the conclusion was finally drawn that carbon-free electricity was an exceedingly small fraction, compared to the behemoth fossil fuel power for transportation and industrial processes. The IMSR provides a new deployable system for low-cost carbon-free process heat energy, which can be used to produce a broad array of energy services, including electric power; hydrogen as an input for industrial chemicals production; steel, cement, and other primary materials; or synthetic fuels for the transportation sector. All of this can be achieved cost-competitively with fossil fuels, and at the lowest life cycle emissions rating of any power source.
Type
Video
Description
NPS Defense Energy Seminar
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
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Format
Duration: 0:00 Filesize 00.0 MB
Citation
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.