XUE DAZHI, LI JICAI, CHANG DAFENG Institute of Nuclear Energy and Technology,

Tsinghua University,

Beijing, China

Abstract

Nuclear heating application has received a wide attention in China due to the favourable economic and environmental aspects. The Nuclear Heating Plant NHR-200 is seen to provide the required energy for district heating, industrial processes and seawater desalination for many sites in China and possibly abroad. The paper summarizes the technical description of the plant and give its main characteristics related to the integral design approach.

1. The development of NHR in China

Because the energy consumption as sensible heat at temperature less than 150°C accounts for about 25% of the total energy consumption in China, therefore, in order to mitigate the energy shortage, environmental pollution caused by coal burning and overburden on coal transportation, great attention has been given to the R& D of the nuclear heating reactor (NHR), which has been as one of the national key projects in science & technology in China since 1980s The NHR could be used in the district heating, air conditioning, sea water desalination and other industrial processes Therefore the NHR could substitute the nuclear energy for fossil fuel and change the energy composition in China This will be of significance m socio-economic development and environmental protection

Research work on possible application of nuclear heat was initiated m early eighties Dunng 1983-1984. the INET used its existing pool type test reactor to provide space heat for the nearby buildings Meanwhile, two types of NHR. i e deep pool type NHR and vessel type NHR. have been developed by INET Based on the heating grid conditions in China and the comparison among various design concepts of the NHR. the vessel type NHR has been selected as a mam development direction As a result, construction of a 5MWt experimental NHR (NHR-5) started in 1986 at INET The reactor was completed m 1989 and has been operated successfully for space heating since then In the meantime, a number of experiments have been earned out to demonstrate the operatmg and safety features of NHR

In China it has been, decided to construct a 200MWt NHR demonstration plant to realize the NHR commercialization The feasibility study of the first DaQing demonstration plant has been completed and approved by the respective authonties

It is worth to mention that dunng the last few years the INET has closely cooperated with Siemens-KWU. German and the former EIR, Switzerland on the R&D of the NHR, and recently the INET also has information and personnel exchange on the matter with the respective institutions m Russia and other countnes