Design, analysis and optimization of the power conversion system for the Modular Pebble Bed Reactor System

The Modular Pebble Bed Reactor system (MPBR) requires a gas turbine cycle (Brayton cycle) as the power conversion system for it to achieve economic competitiveness as a GenIV nuclear system. The availability of controllable helium turbomachinery and compact heat exchangers are thus the critical enabling technology for the gas turbine cycle. The development of an initial reference design for an indirect helium cycle has been accomplished with the overriding constraint that this design could be built with existing technology and complies with all current codes and standards. Using the initial reference design, limiting features were identified. Finally, an optimized reference design was developed by identifying key advances in the technology that could reasonably be expected to be achieved with limited R&D. This final reference design is an indirect, intercooled and recuperated cycle consisting of a three-shaft arrangement for the turbomachinery system. A critical part of the design process involved the interaction between individual component design and overall plant performance. The helium cycle overall efficiency is significantly influenced by performance of individual components. Changes in the design of one component, a turbine for example, often required changes in other components. To allow for the optimization of the overall design with these interdependencies, a detailed steady state and transient control model was developed. The use of the steady state and transient models as a part of an iterative design process represents the key contribution of this work. A dynamic model, MPBRSim, has been developed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Chunyun, 1968-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ronald G. Ballinger.

• Nuclear Engineering

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17026

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17026