I actually think this technology can be perfect in combination with new nuclear power.
FlibeEnergy hopes to use it, and I know the other vendors are not planning to use it, but if it came about they would love it.
FlibeEnergy hopes to use it, and I know the other vendors are not planning to use it, but if it came about they would love it.
https://www.energy.gov/sco2-power-cycles/sco2-power-cycles-n...
This chart shows temperatures for nuclear applications as low as 350 C, but that's still hotter than today's LWRs.
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/01/f19/NEACsCO2...
This second pdf shows the problem: replacing steam means not just building sCO2 turbines, but doing all the incremental optimizations on them that steam turbines already have.
All the major companies at the forefront of reactor commercialization have high temperature reactors.
The optimal today for a reactor is having one reactor with output X and then add 3X worth of turbines and a way to store hot solar salt. This way you can produce huge amount of energy at the times when prices are high.
Of course it also means the nuclear part of the project would only be a small part of the overall cost.
Yes, and as I said this introduces a host of new problems. Not only do these reactors need higher temperature materials, they need materials that can with standard corrosion and radiation at those temperatures.
It is far, far, far easier to design a reactor to withstand high temperature and corrosion then operating a reactor under gigantic amount of pressure.