Cogeneration Posibilities With the Modular Argentinean Nuclear Power Reactor CAREM. G.G.

G. G. FOUGA; D. NASSINI; H.E.P.NASSINI; ANA ESTER BOHE

Viena

Encuentro; Thechnical Meeting on the Examine the Techno-Economics of and Opportunities for Non-Electric Applications of Small and Medium Sized or Modular Reactors; 2017

IAEA

There are several types of nuclear reactors in Argentina for electricity production. Each of them has different characteristics such as uranium enrichment, type of core, level of power, etc.The aim of the present work is to perform a carefully search of the data from each reactor type, especially from the modular CAREM nuclear reactor, designed and constructed by our country. The CAREM Argentine nuclear reactor is a low-temperature type. Therefore, we propose a method to introduce the conversion of the electrical energy into heat energy or to utilize the low temperature from its core for applying cogenerationconcept.The Physicochemical and Quality Control Departament from the ArgentinaNational Atomic Comision has been researching on two types of improving the cogeneration by water distillation and coal gasification.A detailed study of the composition of different rivers and lakes is being carried out. In order to study a distillation method that allows the demineralization mainly of salts of sulfates and carbonates and heavy metals and microbiological disinfection.The studies concerning on coal gasification were focused on kinetic studies of gasification of argentine coal char in presence of steam and carbon dioxide (CO2) as gasifying agents. The kinetics of the CO2 gasification has been studied by thermogravimetry between 800 and 950ºC and CO2 partial pressures from 28 to 82 kPa, using isothermal and non-isothermal measurements to study the influence on the reactionrates of several parameters such as the gaseous flow rate, sample mass, temperature, and CO2 partial pressure. The experimental conditions under which the reaction rate is controlled by chemical reaction were established for the setup used, and a theoretical model to describe the evolution of the reaction degree as a function of time was developed.The gasification reactor is thermally self-sustaining, since the reaction with a small amount of oxygen is exothermic. The nuclear reactor would provide part of the electrical energy for ancillary services.Steam gasification of argentine coal char was also investigated using a specially designed experimental setup, able to produce different partial pressures of steam.Gasification reactions are produced in a tubular flow reactor heated by an electrical furnace that can reach temperatures up to 950ºC. The overall reaction rates under different experimental conditions of gaseous flow rate and sample mass were determined by following the temporal evolution of the gaseous product concentration by gas chromatography and infrared spectrometry.Both methods are still at laboratory scale and suitable to enter the HEEP or any other economic calculation code data are not yet available. So both the economic parameters and the technical ones must be analyzed and determined.introduce the conversion of the electrical energy into heat energy or to utilize the low temperature from its core for applying cogeneration concept.