Study on Technology Development of Alkali Metal-base Thermal Energy Storage for Versatile Heat Sources Utilization

A novel alkali metal-base thermal energy storage (TES) concept has a grate worth to be a next-generation key technologies to get a stable power source regardless of heat energy sources, which has an all-round capability in electricity generation of 24/7 operation for all sorts of heat sources. By enabling linkage operations of thermal energy storage systems for massive heat sources (e.g., nuclear power plant) with intermittent renewable energy sources, convergence effects in different fields of R&Ds and their economic synergies are expected in a nuclear system design. Alkali-metal fluid is efficiently utilized as a heat transfer fluid for an intermittent energy sources (e.g., concentrated solar power) for thermal energy storage. Technical features of connected steam Rankine and gas Brayton cycle power conversion units were analyzed by taking into account configuration and operation of all types of heat storage systems. Based on the Sodium-cooed fast reactor (SFR) technologies, a gas Brayton cycle power conversion system could be easily applied to intermittent renewable energy sources as a general-purpose electricity generation technologies. This study deals with a technology of innovative thermal energy storage in conjunction with Alkali-metal fluids. By enabling linkage operations of thermal energy storage systems for massive heat sources (e.g., nuclear energy) with intermittent renewable energy sources, convergence effects in different fields of R&Ds and their economic synergies are expected in terms of system design, operation, and other indispensable technologies. Qualitative/quantitative information and pre-evaluation results obtained from this study would be effectively utilized as a key technology bases to develop appropriate business models or to launch full-fledged R&D projects in near future