Lecture 12 Energy Technologies: Nuclear, Hydro, Storage, and Other

Gang He

October 17, 2023

Nuclear

Nuclear fission

Nuclear fussion

Nuclear power plants

Nuclear plant design

Diagram of a boiling-water nuclear reactor

Diagram of a pressurized-water nuclear reactor

Nuclear fuel cycle

Social > technology challenges

• Public engagement
  
• Lower capital costs
  
• Social and decision sciences
  
• Science and technology study
  
• Nuclear waste siting
  
• Best practices

Next generation of nuclear technology

• Modality
  
• Lower capital costs
  
• Siting flexibility
  
• Higher efficiency
  
• Safe and security
  
• Industry and manufacture
  
• Economic

Livermore Fusion breakthrough

Hydro

Hydropower

Pumped storage hydropower (PSH)

\(E=\rho mg(h_2-h_1)\)

How a lithium-ion battery works

Battery management system

• Rated power capacity
  
• Energy capacity
  
• Storage duration
  
• Cycle life/lifetime
  
• Self-discharge
  
• State of charge
  
• Round-trip efficiency

Long duration storage

Summary

• Theory - learn and understand the physics of energy technologies:
  • thermaldynamics (fossil)
    
  • kinematics (wind)
    
  • light and semiconductor (solar)
    
  • gravity (hydro, tidal)
    
  • atomic (nuclear)
    
• Practice - learn all kinds of corrections based on real-world situation
  
• The physics doesn’t change, corrections help us to do better jobs in simulation and projections

References

Dowling, Jacqueline A., Katherine Z. Rinaldi, Tyler H. Ruggles, Steven J. Davis, Mengyao Yuan, Fan Tong, Nathan S. Lewis, and Ken Caldeira. 2020. “Role of Long-Duration Energy Storage in Variable Renewable Electricity Systems.” Joule 4 (9): 1907–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.07.007.