An analysis was conducted to determine the economic as well as technical feasibility of waste heat utilization from the proposed direct cycle high temperature gas cooled nuclear reactor, as designed by the General Atomic Company.
The rejected heat from this system is at considerably higher temperatures than those normally encountered in conventional steam-electric Rankine cycles. By taking advantage of these higher rejection temperatures, heat was translated into energy available to a district heating and air conditioning service. The transportation of this energy was considered to be in the form of heated and chilled water.
A refrigeration capacity on the order of 100,000 Tons and a heating capability of 5.0 x 10 9 BTU/hr at a distance of 70 miles was found to be a possibility.
An economic analysis using a discounted cash flow technique, indicated that most of the systems analyzed could be profitable ventures. During the operation of the district heating and air conditioning network, overall utilization of the total reactor heat generation would be in excess of 80.0 per cent --Abstract, page ii
