Abstract

The long-term goal of emission-free energy and transportation systems by utilizing nuclear generated electricity and hydrogen may well take half a century to realize in the industrialized nations and even longer in the developing countries. It has become clear, even to former antinuclear power organizations, that future use of nuclear power could be a significant factor in combating both acid rain and the greenhouse effect. However, it is also clear that to realize clean air goals, the next generation of nuclear plants must address users beyond just the electricity generating sector, namely manufacturing industry, heat supply markets and transportation systems. This can be realized by means of high temperature nuclear process heat using an advanced Modular High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (MHTGR). The nuclear process heat system outlined in this paper would utilize coal, uranium, and water as feedstocks, and have as its principal product synthesis gas (i.e., hydrogen and carbon monoxide). This is readily converted into methanol, synthetic natural gas (SNG), or hydrogen to meet changing market needs, and since the thermodynamics of the process does not use all of the available reactor thermal energy, electricity can be cogenerated. As outlined in this paper, the basic very high temperature nuclear reactor and coal conversion technologies have been demonstrated in experimental facilities, and the next step would be their coupling in a pilot plant which could be operational a little after the year 2000.

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