Manufacturing Cost Analysis of An Advanced Nuclear Energy System Based on High-Temperature Reactor Technology

Nuclear energy is very promising for generating carbon-free electricity and heat due to its: (1) high energy density, quality, and efficiency; (2) relatively constant, stable, and reliable supply; (3) inherent safety and (4) low environmental impact. However, the cost competitiveness and time availability of nuclear technology compared to other carbon-free energy sources is significantly lacking due to high costs and long times for facility construction. To reduce costs and enhance the readiness of nuclear supplied power and heat, new and alternative strategies for the design and construction of these systems are required. The use of small modular reactors based on advanced reactor technologies offers this opportunity as higher and better controlled production rates of these reactors and associated components, can be achieved in offsite manufacturing facilities. However, to ensure the economic feasibility of this technology, estimation and analysis of the associated costs and cost limitations must be performed at a sufficient level of detail to identify cost drivers. Consequently, the Phase 1 project focuses on developing a range of high-fidelity cost models and analysis software tools for estimating full lifecycle costs of generalized nuclear power plants at different large-scales and configurations based on high-temperature gas-cooled small modular reactor technology. Though this phase is still in progress, so far detailed manufacturing cost models have been devised for critical nuclear plant components such as the reactor and other supporting subsystems. High-level cost models have also been developed for other plant components and subsystems agnostic to the type of nuclear technology such as the energy conversion, heat management, and other miscellaneous plant subsystems. These models enable identification of key cost drivers and define pathways that can reduce costs of nuclear energy production. This Phase 2 project will extend and deepen the Phase 1 models to include cost modeling of nuclear thermal plants integrated with other key industrial processes such as eFuels production, lignocellulosic processing, and polymer synthesis for direct supply of heat and electricity. These will also better capture cost impacts of nuclear-specific aspects such as nuclear safety grade and quality assurance, onsite assembly, installation, and construction, plant operation, and plant development and construction cost and time overruns. Finally, the small modular reactor models will be extended to predict and estimate costs of the microreactor size range (~1 ľ 20 MWe). Commercialization of innovations devised in this project will support industry stakeholders through consulting services that use the adaptable computer-based cost models and software developed to rapidly assess potential configurations and direct industrial integrations, identify cost drivers, impacts from project overruns, and conduct tradeoff studies to optimize plant design for low cost. Through these activities, commercialization and deployment of inherently safe, advanced Generation IV reactors coupled to industrial processes may be accelerated, thereby, reducing greenhouse gases from the energy and industrial sectors and enhancing the energy independence of the United States.