The HTR, applications, economics and environmental aspects

The High Temperature Reactor (HTR), as the only nuclear system producing high temperature heat up to 1000 deg. C, offers a wide variety of applications. Besides electricity production, via steam turbines and in future via gas turbines, there is: District heat with high efficiency, long distance energy for urban energy supply, high pressure injection steam production for enhanced oil recovery, medium range temperature heat direct application in chemical and related industry and last not least, high temperature application for the refinement of fossil energy carriers. Recent results of studies and programmes will be presented: Near term applications are identified, e.g. refineries and alumina industry with smaller HTR units. Another large market is the production of hydrogen, methanol and ammonia on the basis of natural gas, the relevant technology has been developed up to the pilot scale. The refinement of fossil energy carriers, in particular of coal, is subject of the R+D programme in the cooperation between German industrial companies and the Nuclear Research Center. The results are very promising and will be explained in detail. This programme will be continued. Objectives are: improvement of the technology and of the economics as well as environmental aspects, e.g. the reduction of emissions of carbon-dioxid. The topics of the programme deal with the different apparatus, e.g. steam methane reformer, steam coal gasifier, intermediate heat exchanger and last not least, the process heat HTR. (author)