Heat balance analysis for energy conversion systems of VHTR

VHTR(Very High Temperature Gas Reactor) with helium used as a coolant can easily produce heat required in high-temperature thermochemical process, and because of low heat output density, the possibility of core melting is low. In this study, provided that VHTR is located in the primary system, the heat conversion system will be discussed in which hydrogen production and power supply are possible. In order to control the ratio between power and hydrogen production, the helium flowing through nuclear reactor is made to pass through heat exchanger for hydrogen production and steam generator or heat exchanger. This study proposes the whole heat conversion system model, and carries out thermodynamic feasibility calculation according to major design variable at each point and sensitivity analysis for efficiency optimization.