HTGR Knowledge Base

Conference Article: Study on Coupling a Gas Turbine Cycle to the HTR-10 Test Reactor

Abstract

Currently, a 10MW helium cooled high temperature test reactor (HTR-10) using shperical fuel elements is being constructed. The test reactor facility is now under commissioning and will reach its first criticality soon. The test reactor is now coupled with a steam turbine cycle through a steam generator, but it is planed that in the second phase of the project, a gas turbine cycle shall be coupled to the reactor to carry out R&D programmes on the gas turbine power generation technology.
Different possibilities of coupling a gas turbine cycle to the HTR-10 test reactor are dicussed taking into account of conditions given by the existing facility. If an ntermediate heat exchanger is implemented into the current system configuration, indirect gas turbine cycles can be coupled to the HTR-10 reactor. The presence of the intermediate heat exchanger also allows some room for the choice of gas turbine working fluid. Two options are dicussed on the paper: nitrogen and helium as the working fluid of the gas turbine cycle. For the nitrogen option, the gas turbine cycle is inter-coupled with the existing steam ccle through a residual heat recover, while for the helium optjion, the helium cycle and the steam cycle are not inter-coupled. The helium cycle is a recuperated, inter-cooled Brayton cycle. As another possibility, the option of coupling a direct gas turbine cycle without steam cycle is shortly discyssed. The materialiyation of reasonably coupling a gas turbine cycle to HTR-10 would help acquire R&D experience of nuclear power generating technology using the combination of high temperature reactor and gas turbine.

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Reference:

IAEA Technical Committee Meeting on “Gas Turbine Power Conversion Systems for Modular HTGRs”, held from 14-16 November 2000 in Palo Alto, California

International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria). Technical Working Group on Gas-Cooled Reactors

IAEA-TECDOC--1238, pp:50-56