Engineering and economic aspects of centalized heating from nuclear boilers

Some engineering and economic aspects for deployment of centralized nuclear boilers (NB) in the USSR are considered. Engineering, maintenance and economic features of NB as compared to organic-fuelled boilers and nuclear thermal power plants are discussed. Among major factors governing economic efficiency of NB underlined are oraganic fuel costs, reactor unit power, location relative to heat-consuming centres and capacity factor. It is concluded that NB can be economical for heating large consumers (more than 1500 G kal/hr). At the periphery NB can be competitive already at reactor unit power of several MWth. The development of HTGR type reactor-based nuclear-chemical boilers and lines for heat transport in a chemically bound state (e.g., CH4 → H2+CO2+CO → CH4) opens the way for a substantial breakthrow in the centralized NB efficiency