Mobile hybrid (nuclear/oil fired) gas turbine cogeneration power plant concept

A small mobile hybrid nuclear/oil-fired cogeneration power plant is proposed, its prime function being to provide power and heat to users in isolated areas (e.g. polar regions, islands, deserts) and for emergency use, for example in natural disaster areas where fuel supply logistic concerns are a major problem. The power plant would consist of five basic modules which would be skid-mounted for air or truck transportation to the site. A duplicity of heat sources is inherent in the design concept, i.e. a small helium-cooled nuclear reactor and an industrial gas turbine with an external combustor. Initial operation would be with the combustion gas turbine which could burn a variety of liquid fuels, including diesel oil, jet fuel, kerosene, gasoline, etc. Two factors would be dominant in the plant design, i.e. safety and reliability considerations. Multiple metallic barriers and independent loops between the reactor and the prime-mover facilitate the use of a conventional open cycle industrial gas turbine generator. The reactor embodies passive cooling capability and is of a second generation inherently safe type. Should it be necessary, the ease of module removal and replacement would assure high availability. The proposed power plant is based on proven and available technology. The plant can be operated in regions where cooling water is not available; however, if a source is available, the cogeneration module would provide process heat (e.g. hot water, steam, hot air) or be used for desalination. The proposed power plant concept, by its hybrid nature, is component intensive, and in the conventional sense could not be justified on an economic basis and, of course, is not intended for commercial power generation service, but is rather aimed at meeting the needs of users who have no indigenous fuel supply and where fuel supply logistics are extremely difficult. (Copyright (c) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)