| Vectors compliance | Clean energy |
|---|---|
| High tech group | Energy and Environment |
| Inquired budget | Not applicable |
| Investment readiness | Scientific development |
| Project life cycle stage | Creation of experimental samples, Patenting |
| Investment object | Other |
| Intellectual property protection | Other |
| Required budget | Not applicable |
| Product scale of use | World market |
| Innovation product type | Scientific and technical developments |
| Research development type | Experimental development and research |
| Workplace creation potential | Not applicable |
Steam turbine installations for power units based on small modular reactors
Development of scientific approaches and technical solutions for improving the processes of energy conversion and use in power plants based on Small Modular Reactors with determination of ways to create new turbine equipment. This makes it possible to build new modern power units of domestic nuclear power plants, to create a distributed system of small maneuverable and reserve power plants. An integral condition for the performance of the work, in addition to increasing the energy efficiency of the equipment and increasing the part of maneuverable and reserve capacities in the general generation, is the development of scientific and technical solutions aimed at implementation at the enterprises of the Ukrainian power engineering sector. This makes it possible to reduce import dependence of domestic energy and will contribute to the energy security of the state.
Purpose
Development of scientific approaches and technical solutions to improve the processes of energy conversion and use in steam turbine plants based on small modular reactors with the identification of ways to improve existing and develop new main turbine and power generator equipment and efficient energy storage. This makes it possible to create a distributed system of small manoeuvrable and backup power plants
Tasks
- development of a thermal scheme and calculation of the main parameters of the NPP turbine;
- design of the turbine flow part of a NPP power unit;
- development of constructive solutions, methods and schemes for the construction of monitoring and diagnostic systems aimed at improving the reliability and load capacity of power generators;
- development of a schematic solution for the construction of a manoeuvrable power plant with small modular reactors and its thermal scheme;
- design of the flow part of a manoeuvrable power plant with small modular reactors;
- proposals for improvement of powerful NPP turbine units.
Description
Ukraine’s nuclear power industry includes four power plants with a total installed capacity of 13.8 GW, which play a key role in the country’s Integrated Power System (IPS), namely, providing the majority of the base load in the daily power generation cycle. These power plants operate thirteen VVER-1000 power units with a rated electric capacity of 1000 MW, provided by one 1000 MW turbine, and two VVER-440 power units with two 220 MW turbines each.
In recent years, the share of annual electricity generation at domestic nuclear power plants has been about half of the total annual electricity output. In the new circumstances of the domestic energy sector during the hostilities, Ukraine not only continues to consider and use nuclear energy as one of the efficient low-carbon sources, but also does not abandon its plans for its development during the post-war restoration and construction of new nuclear power units.
Thus, in the pre-war period, NNEGC “Energoatom” planned to increase the capacity of domestic NPPs to 24 GW by 2040 through the construction of 14 new power units. At the same time, the agreements on the construction of two new power units at Khmelnytsky NPP, which were concluded with the world’s leading nuclear reactor manufacturer Westinghouse Electric, have not been cancelled, and even more so – in July 2022, a contract was signed to develop an updated feasibility study for the construction of these two units. A significant part of Soviet-made equipment is in operation at Ukraine’s nuclear power units.
At the same time, the vast majority of it (nuclear reactors, power generators and a share of turbine equipment) is manufactured by enterprises that now belong to the aggressor country. While today Ukraine does not have the ability to develop and build nuclear reactors and plans to purchase them from a foreign partner (Westinghouse Electric), there is sufficient domestic scientific, engineering and production potential to produce the main power equipment of the second circuit (namely, turbines and electric generators), in particular, JSC Ukrainian Power Machines is a world-renowned manufacturer of products for nuclear, thermal and hydraulic power plants and in its production practice implements, among other things, the modern results of Ukrainian science, which An analysis of incidents related to unplanned emergency disconnections of NPP units from the grid and load reduction shows that a significant proportion of them are the result of insufficient reliability of the second circuit electrical equipment.
Another problem that is directly related to the domestic nuclear power industry is the lack of shunting and reserve generating capacities in the IPS of Ukraine.
The global trend towards further growth of generation from renewable energy sources (RES), which are mainly intermittent sources (solar radiation and wind), is directly related to the need to create additional manoeuvrable and reserve capacities to ensure the sustainable operation of the IPS.
The problem of the lack of manoeuvrable and reserve capacities became especially acute after the full-scale invasion, when the enemy switched to tactics of destroying Ukraine’s energy facilities. Obviously, under such conditions, new reserve and manoeuvrable generating capacities should be built based on the distributed energy system. This will reduce the vulnerability of the IPS of Ukraine during hostilities and will be one of the factors of energy security during the post-war recovery of the country and in the years to come. Given that the construction of new generating capacities using fossil hydrocarbon fuels (namely, TPPs and CHPs in Ukraine bear the main load for balancing the IPS) does not meet the current global trends in environmental development of energy, and in Ukraine it is impossible to implement at all due to dependence on hydrocarbon fuel imports, the only way to solve the problem of lack of manoeuvrable and reserve power units in the domestic realities is to introduce new technologies of distributed generation, primarily, battery power plants.
At the same time, the current solutions offered on the market for the creation of SMR-based power plants are focused only on generating electricity without its accumulation. In addition, in the proposed solutions, developers focus on the design of the SMR, i.e. the heat generator, and almost no attention is paid to the issues of its efficient conversion into electricity (i.e. the development of energy-efficient turbine and electric generator equipment for a specific SMR).
Therefore, the problem of developing modern scientific and technical solutions for implementation in the domestic power engineering sector in order to manufacture products for existing and new power units of large NPPs and SMR-based power plants, taking into account their manoeuvrability, distribution and energy storage, is extremely important and an integral part of ensuring Ukraine’s energy security.
Fields of prospective use
Power machine engineering
Potential stakeholders
JSC “Ukrainian Power Machines”
Budget
Required: needs to be clarified
Inquired: 0M ₴
Workplace creation potential: needs to be clarified
Possible sources of funding
International funds, funds of interested domestic and foreign companies
Website
www.ipmach.kharkov.ua
