Holtec designs the first hybrid power plant with solar and nuclear power at the same time
Holtec International proposes to combine the advantages of nuclear and solar energy to create the first hybrid power plant designed to use both energy sources.
Holtec is designing a revolutionary power plant design that combines the advantages of nuclear power (high energy density, base load) with the advantages of solar power (zero fuel cost, lower regulatory barriers), completely carbon-free and adaptable for use in any country.
This proposal, called CNSP, an acronym for Combined Nuclear/Solar Plant, uses a small modular Holtec SMR-300 reactor and the company’s HI-THERM HSP solar thermal system, as well as a Holtec Green Boiler to provide charging power.
The immediate application of CNSP technology is to facilitate the necessary transition in global energy production from coal to clean energy. Coal-fired power plants, which typically have sufficient space to accommodate CNSPs, will use a coal-fired power unit, minimizing the transition costs. The coal-fired power plant’s steam generation section will be decommissioned, freeing up most of the plant’s territory for the solar power plant.
CNSP technology aims to make the sun a valuable fuel source and a major contributor to clean energy production, led by the reviving nuclear power industry.
The SMR-300 small modular reactor is based on a proven type of light water technology used in most land-based reactors, as well as submarines and aircraft carriers, with gravity-activated deep containment features that give the nuclear facility a fail-safe emergency recovery capability.
Solar energy will be supplied to the power plant through the HI-THERM HSP hybrid solar plant, which is significantly more efficient than its predecessors, producing up to 8 MW of solar energy per acre in equatorial and subtropical regions.
Steam from a nuclear reactor and heat from a solar thermal power plant are combined in the Green Cauldron, a multifunctional device designed to provide steam of the right pressure and superheat to operate an existing coal-fired power plant’s turbine generator.
A solar thermal power plant can be as large as the available land area allows. Experts in power plant cycle design have estimated that CNSP will have a much higher thermodynamic efficiency than a single nuclear power plant and will make solar energy an integral part of baseload power supply, noting that CNSP does not use batteries. In fact, the CNSP does not contain any fragile parts or materials that could limit its service life, which is expected to exceed 60 years.
