Joint Study Confirmed SMR Efficiency for Chemical Plants

A two-year study by the Oak-Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the NuScale was devoted to the performance and profitability of coupling a NuScale Power Module with a US chemical facility to provide nuclear-generated steam and electric power. The experts used actual chemical plant conditions and historical data to perform a feasibility study for using nuclear energy and natural gas as energy sources in different steam and power configurations. These activities followed on from an earlier study in 2020 where ORNL evaluated the feasibility of using advanced small modular reactors (SMR), including NuScale’s 50 MWe reactor design, to supply energy to the Eastman Chemical Plant.

The new study focuses on NuScale’s uprated 77 MWe design with the introduction of a high-temperature, high-pressure, steam heat-augmentation system, revised capital costs, a 10-day refueling outage time, reduced plant staffing, higher capacity factors and a site boundary Emergency Planning Zone methodology.

According to the research, the NuScale integrated energy system could meet the chemical plant requirements of 1.3 million kg/h of process steam, at 400 °C, and 4.1 MPa, while also providing 73 MW of electric power. Excess power generated could be exported to the grid for increased profitability.

According to the World Nuclear News