An integrated nuclear-based trigeneration system for hydrogen, electricity and freshwater production: Analysis and assessment

This study presents the design and thermodynamic analysis of an integrated system based on a supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR), which is considered for a potential deployment inNew Brunswick, Canada. The integrated system includes several subsystems, including an SCWR unit, a copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) thermochemical cycle, a multi-effect desalination (MED) unit, a regenerative Rankine cycle, and a hydrogen compression unit. The proposed system uses thermal energy from a SCWR to generate power, hydrogen and freshwater. In contrast to conventional water-cooled reactors, SCWRs exhibit enhanced efficiency by utilizing water as a coolant under supercritical conditions (exceeding 374°C and 22.1 MPa). The proposed system uses the Cu-Cl thermochemical cycle to produce H 2 with some of the heat energy, and the power block produces electricity. The waste heat released from the condenser in the power block enables the multi-effect desalination unit to produce fresh water from ocean water. The entire system uses 2540 MWt of energy obtained from SCWR. The Cu-Cl cycle uses 622.2 MWt of energy to produce 1 kmol/s of H 2 , the MED unit produces 42,188 m 3 /day of fresh water, and the regenerative Rankine cycle generates 1150 MW gross electrical power. Parametric results show that freshwater production exceeds 60,000 m 3 /day at a steam flow rate of 30 kg/s, while net electricity generation decreases from approximately 1250 MWe to 1050 MWe as the condenser pressure increases. The performance analyses of the overall system and each subsystem are conducted using energy and exergy analyses. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system are found to be 43% and 37.5%, respectively.