Development of a Floating Nuclear Plant with a Solar Based Hydrogen Energy System

In this study, an integrated system based on a floating nuclear plant with an onshore multigenerational system is designed and analyzed with thermodynamic based energy and exergy approaches. High-temperature gas-cooled pebble bed reactor technology is considered in the floating nuclear plant. A bifacial PV plant, thermochemical Cu-Cl hydrogen production cycle, cascaded heat pump, and proton-exchange membrane fuel cell system are considered in the onshore multigenerational system. Hydrogen is used to energize communities once the floating mobile nuclear plant disconnects. As a case study, four cities in Nunavut, Canada are investigated with thermodynamic based analyses in a time-dependent manner with a shift schedule. Iqaluit city is extensively analyzed for nuclear connected and disconnected periods due to the schedule with a 25MWp bifacial PV plant with the Cu-Cl cycle and 15MW PEM fuel cell as the offshore system with a 150MWth floating nuclear plant for 5 months shift, produced 1648 tons of hydrogen, 47239MWh electricity, and 75900MWh heating. For the nuclear connected period, energy and exergy efficiencies are found to be 24.5% and 19.7%, respectively. During the nuclear disconnected period, energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated as 39.9% and 46.0%, respectively