1,000 words

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Nuclear Engineering International: Renewables and the role of nuclear

https://www.neimagazine.com/analysis/renewables-and-the-role-of-nuclear/?cf-view

Renewables and the role of nuclear
While long considered appropriate only as baseload generation, the Dalton Nuclear Institute argues that flexible nuclear power could be achieved through use of cogeneration of heat and power. This approach would substantially improve the overall system economics and support net zero by 2050 scenarios. What’s the catch?

Staff Writer February 12, 2025


Heat and hydrogen production could be deployed at scale to give nuclear increased flexibility

A new report by the Dalton Nuclear Institute, part of the UK’s University of Manchester, has explored how renewables and nuclear power can jointly contribute to achieving net zero.

Focused on the UK, the report ‘The road to net zero: renewables and nuclear working together’, nonetheless applies to many nations and regions. It states that while renewable energy is expected to play a large role in achieving net zero ambitions, their variability opens the door to alternatives, including nuclear. The report argues that to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 there will need to be a significant increase in the proportion of energy that is delivered by electricity, and which must be predominantly low carbon. This is reflected in the anticipated shift to a greater role for electricity to support transport, domestic heating and industrial processes, for example.

…

By building a large nuclear capacity for cogeneration activities it is possible to divert the nuclear energy to provision of electrical power for the grid very cheaply when needed. This has the potential to become a very low-cost option provided the total support for the grid over the year is kept to below 20% of the total use.

However, with higher temperature Advanced Modular Reactors (AMR) this approach can be taken even further by utilising thermal energy storage, which offers a lower cost solution to energy storage. Thermal storage would be a key element for the use of nuclear heat for cogeneration and also decouples the reactor from the electricity generation process. This enables a larger generating capacity to be provided, which would in turn deliver a larger effective capacity for grid support when needed. The costs of doing this would be much lower than providing more dedicated power plants for high levels of demand but with low capacity factors. The provision of thermal storage also opens up the possibility of reactor cogeneration at industrial sites where nuclear plants would be co-located with energy-intensive industrial applications. Such sites could accept excess variable renewable electricity which would otherwise be curtailed, for applications like hydrogen production, and support them with nuclear heat to increase efficiency. This approach can also reduce carbon emissions.

…