Economics of Long-Distance Transmission, Storage, and Distribution of Heat from Nuclear Plants with Existing and Newer Techniques

Abstract

Conventional and newer types of hot-water pipes are applied to the bulk transport of reject heat from central nuclear power plants to the district heating network of cities or groups of cities. With conventional pipes, the transport of 300 to 2000 MW of heat over distances of 30 to 100 km can be justified, while with newer pipe types, even longer distances would often be economic. For medium-size district heating schemes, low-temperature heat transport from simple heat-only reactors suitable for closer location to cities is of interest.

For daily storage of heat on district heating systems, steel heat accumulators are currently used in Sweden. The development of more advanced cheaper heat accumulators, such as lake storage schemes, could make even seasonal heat storage economic.

Newer distribution technology extends the economic field of penetration of district heating even to suburban one-family house districts. With proper design and optimization, nuclear district heating can be competitive in a wide market and achieve very substantial fossil-fuel savings.