Nuclear power for energy storage

Should nuclear energy be stored as thermal energy?

Since heat is a natural product of nuclear reactions, storing the energy produced as thermal energy seems to be an efficient means of storage. Also, storing heat is a technologically simple task so it should be a relatively cheap and reliable energy storage adaptation for nuclear power.

Can thermal energy storage be integrated with nuclear energy?

In particular, thermal energy storage (TES) provides several advantages when integrated with nuclear energy. First, nuclear reactors are thermal generators, meaning that fewer energy transformation mechanisms are required when thermal energy is used as the coupling energy resource.

Can thermal energy storage and nuclear energy be a transformative contribution?

Jan 2022, 1: 011006 (9 pages) Thermal energy storage (TES) coupled with nuclear energy could be a transformative contribution to address the mismatch in energy production and demand that occur with the expanding use of solar and wind energy. TES can generate new revenue for the nuclear plant and help decarbonize the electricity grid.

Should nuclear energy be stored in TES systems?

Second, TES systems would preserve nuclear energy in its original form (heat), enabling much more flexible use when the stored energy is recovered (e.g., electricity production or steam supply for industrial systems).

How much storage is needed for nuclear energy in California?

They estimated that storage requirements for nuclear energy in California would be 4% of daily nuclear generation compared to 36% and 21% for wind and solar, respectively [ 23 ]. Denholm et al. [ 15] quantified the potential for increased capacity factor of a nuclear power plant with storage compared to load reduction.

Does storage increase nuclear power plant capacity?

They estimated that storage would increase the capacity factor of a nuclear power plant by 2.5% with a renewable penetration of 60% and discharge power equal to 110% of the nominal baseload.