Environmental, financial and energy feasibility of the electrolysis of the water steam of a generation IV reactor cooling system during the moments of low consumption of electrical energy: challenges and perspectives

Abstract

Our civilization is in an inflection moment. Our current decisions will lead us to drastic changes in the planet climate or to cleaner and more sustainable energy generation models. In a certain moment in the evolution of our society, we have privileged the productivity instead of the reasonable use of the planet's resources. This option has been leading us to a situation in which these resources are seriously jeopardized. New models of energy generation and use should be discussed and adopted in order to reverse this process. The electric-power consumption is not constant through time and it must be generated at the moment it is going to be used. There are moments of great idleness in the electric-power generation system, counterbalanced by high demand moments. This characteristic has induced us to the construction of a model of great generation capacity that remains without use most of the time, producing huge financial and environmental impacts. In this article, we discuss the environmental, financial and energy viability of using the idle capacity of the electric-power system to, through water steam electrolysis, produce hydrogen, which would be reconverted into electric power in peak moments by a fuel cell. In this study, we aim at investigating the viability of associating a SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell), acting as an electrolysis bow, to a generation IV reactor, in order to produce hydrogen from superheated water steam in the cooling of the reactor, which will be converted into electric power via SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) in peak moments. The method used in this investigation was to study the electric charge variation consumed in a day, randomly selected in relation to the hour of the day, to launch a curve into a diagram ‘Demand x hour of the day', to establish the peak moments, the minimum moments, and the average consumption, and, based on these data and geometrically, predict the viability of using the energetic potential of the moments in which the curve is below the average straight line to compensate the system in the moments in which the curve is above the average, putting it closer to a certain baseline. With these data, we aim at finding out in which level the baseline will stabilize when the energetic losses resulting from the conversions are integrated to the study. As partial conclusion, we have observed that this option would be viable in a universe in which the Second Law of Thermodynamics would not be valid. The never ending of the conversions between energies took the baseline line very close to the maximum point of the original curve, making its adoption, in the energetic point of view, not viable. However, the hydrogen is an input of greater added value than the electric power. As conclusion, we have observed that the technology of using the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), operating as an electrolysis bow associated to a nuclear reactor, shows itself as promising to the production of this important energetic vector that can be addressed to other movable or portable applications.