Volume 17: Technology Innovation to Accelerate Energy Transitions

Nuclear Energy Drop-In Replacements for Gas Turbines, Natural Gas and Fossil Liquid Fuels Charles Forsberg, Bruce Dale, Eric Ingersoll

Abstract

We describe a roadmap, based on a series of workshops and studies, to use base-load nuclear reactors to replace fossil fuels in a low-carbon world that integrates nuclear, wind, solar, hydro-electricity and biomass energy sources. Nuclear reactors with large-scale heat storage enable variable electricity to the grid with nuclear plants that both buy and sell electricity. The low-cost heat storage and assured generating capacity enables efficient use of largescale wind and solar. Nuclear hydrogen production facilities at the scale of global oil refineries produce hydrogen to replace natural gas as a heat source. Nuclear heat and hydrogen convert plant biomass into drop-in hydrocarbon biofuels to replace gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and hydrocarbon feed stocks for the chemical industry. The external heat and hydrogen greatly increases the quantities of biofuels that can be produced per unit of feedstock. The system can produce variable quantities of biofuels and sequestered carbon dioxide that enables negative carbon dioxide emissions and increases revenue if there is a market for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Keywords Gas turbine, heat storage, biofuels, hydrogen, nuclear energy