Nuclear heating plants - an option for district heating in future?

Abstract

For different reasons the substitution of fossil fuels in the energy system of the Federal Republik of Germany, which has a large market share in the heat market is an objective. Besides of the heat extraction from nuclear power plants the development of combined heat and power generation plants in high-temperature reactors and the heat production in heating reactors offer new perspectives for the use of nuclear energy for heat production. This paper presents the stage of development, the potential for application and the economic background of nuclear heating plants. These heating reactors are mainly designed to feed into typical district heating networks of the public utilities which are operated at temperatures of up to 120 to 130° C.