Development of Thermal Power Dispatch Simulation Tools for BWR Flexible Plant Operation and Generation

In the United States, nuclear power plants (NPPs) generate around 20% of total electricity output, accounting for about 56% of total emission-free electricity output. Nuclear energy will remain as an important energy contributor to the nation, providing the most reliable non-carbon-dioxide-emitting source
of baseload power. Due to the extension of the license of nuclear plants beyond 60 years of the initial licensing, improvements in the productivity of the nuclear power plants are sought after to support the nation’s growing energy demands. One of the identified approaches is by repurposing the plants during certain periods to sell electricity directly to large industrial process plants to maintain a very high capacity factor. As a result, it is of great interest to extract up to 50% of the thermal power from the plants to deliver the required energy through a process called thermal power extraction (TPE). Recent investigations under the support of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program have shown that the current fleet of light water reactors can provide cost-competitive energy required for hydrogen production and industrial hydrogen users. In the U.S. domestic LWR fleet, about one-third of operational nuclear power reactors are
boiling water reactors (BWRs). Therefore, it is of great importance to develop TPE technologies for BWRs.