Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of Natrium Energy Island with Molten
Salt Energy Storage
Abstract
The increasing installment of solar and wind renewable energy systems
create a volatile energy demand to be met by electricity providers. A
nuclear hybrid energy system is a nuclear reactor with energy storage
that integrates into the grid with renewable energy sources. The Natrium
design by TerraPower and GE Hitachi is a sodium fast reactor with molten
salt energy storage. The Natrium design operates at steady state of 345
MW e and can boost up to 500 MW e for
5.5 hours. This study uses Dymola and the Modelica language to model the
Natrium-based NHES. The dynamic system model is tested using hourly
historical data form Texas (ERCOT) 2021 to show how renewables affect
the electricity demand and how energy storage affects the Natrium system
response to the demand. According to the results, while the available
storage will allow the Natrium design to boost electricity production
when the demand and electricity price is high making it more
economically viable, the current molten salt storage is undersized for
the ERCOT market.