Nuclear district heating

Major trends in the development of nuclear district heating in the USSR are outlined. The nuclear power sources considered are as follows: nuclear thermoelectric plants (NTP), nuclear distric heating plants (NDH) and nuclear process heat plants (NPH). The NTP are designed for both electric and heat supply of large cities, the NPH-for industrial process heat supply, the steam pressure ranging from 0.12 to 10 MPa, and the NDH-for hot water supply. The NTP, NDH and NPH projects developed nowadays are based on the WWER-500 (1000) reac.tors. Some data on the reduced costs and overall efficiency of the plants in comparison with corresponding fossil-fueled plants are presented. In the European part of the USSR the NTP are economical when constructed in cities with the heat rates above 1700 MJ/s; the NDH and NPH can be competitive against fossil-fueled boilers at the heat rates of populated areas and industrial complexes of 900-1700 MJ/s. If the problems in the development of prestressed reinforced concrete reactor vessels are solved, the competitiveness of the NTP, NDH and NPH might be even higher