Gas-cooled reactor application for a university campus

Large urban areas with unfavourable topographic and meteorological conditions suffer severe air pollution during the winter months. Use of low grade lignites, imported higher quality coal or imported fuel oil are the sources of air pollution in the form of sulphur dioxide, fly ash and soot. Large housing complexes or old and historical locations within the city are in need of pollution free centralized district heating systems. Natural gas imported from the Soviet Union is a solution for this problem. Lack of gas distribution network for high pressure gas within the city is the main bottle-neck for the heating systems utilizing natural gas. Concern of the safety of flammable high pressure gas circulating within the city is another drawback for the natural gas heating systems. Nuclear district heating is an environmentally viable option worth looking into it. Localized urban nuclear heating is an interesting solution for large urban areas with old and historical character. The results of a feasibility study on the HGR application for the Hacettepe University presented here, summarizes the concept of gas-cooled heating reactors specially designed for urban centers. The inherently safe characteristics of the pebble bed heating reactor makes localized urban nuclear heating a viable alternative to other heat sources. An economical analysis of various heat sources with equal power levels is done for the Beytepe campus of Hacettepe University in Ankara. Under special boundary conditions, the price for heat generation can be much lower for nuclear heating with GHR 20 than for hard coal or fuel oil. It is also possible that if the price escalation rate for natural gas exceeds 3%, then nuclear heating with GHR can be more competitive. It is concluded that the nuclear heating of Beytepe campus with a GHR 20 is feasible and economical. (author) 3 figs., 5 refs