Converting the Barsebaeck Plant from nuclear power to natural gas combined cycle

The technical and economic possibilities for converting the Barsebaeck plant to a natural gas fired combined-cycle plant are investigated. It is presumed that the existing steam cycle can be used with very small alterations, and that the total electric power output will remain unchanged. The result of the study shows that a conversion is possible, a system comprising five large gas turbines and an externally fired waste heat boiler in combination with the existing steam turbines would give a thermal efficiency above 48 percent and a preserved electric power of 1250 MWe. In this solution, only one of the two nuclear plants is used. The economic evaluation gives an advantage to the converted plant compared to a new plant, even in the case of base load operation. 14 refs, 21 figs, 11 tabs