Operation and Control of the INL Thermal Energy Delivery System (TEDS)

Nuclear Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems (NR-HES) is an area of current research interest
as wind and solar grid penetrations continue to increase. The goal of these systems is to enable
nuclear plant operation at ~100% capacity and store excess energy, when available, for later use.
Sensible heat Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems have been shown to be an effective thermal
load management strategy allowing nuclear reactor systems to operate at effectively 100% full
power while storing excess thermal energy for recovery at a later time. Thermal storage has been
modeled extensively around the world. However, little in the way of experimentation is being
conducted. Experimentation is needed to verify the dynamics and control of TES systems.
To complement the modeling and simulation efforts on nuclear-renewable hybrid energy
systems, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is designing a Thermal Energy Delivery System
(TEDS). The system will provide a means of distributing thermal energy to and from various colocated systems located in the INL Dynamic Energy Transport and Integration Laboratory
(DETAIL). DETAIL will include a high-pressure high-temperature water flow loop simulating a
Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), a 25 kWe High-Temperature Steam Electrolysis (HTSE) unit
(first potential heat user/customer) and a packed-bed Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system. The
thermal energy transfer from TEDS can be used in a flexible, dynamic manner incorporating
charging and discharging cycles from the TES system, to support test/demonstration operations for
nuclear-renewable hybrid energy systems (N-R HES) applications. This paper discusses the
design, operation, instrumentation (sensors), and control strategies to enable the dynamic
operation of TEDS.