The EU aims to be climate-neutral i.e. to have an economy with net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. The consequential task to curb the emissions of CO2 and other GHG so drastically shows that it will be very far from sufficient to consider electricity generation alone. Presently in EU, electricity generation is decarbonised approximately by 2/3, but electricity is making up for only about 1/4 of the total end use energy consumption. The other 3/4, which are consumed largely in the three sectors of transportation, industrial process heat and residential heating, are relying by almost 80% on burning of fossil fuels. This represents an extreme challenge for the EU counterstrategy against global warming and climate change.
This is where Nuclear Cogeneration of electricity, process heat and production of low-carbon energy carriers can and must jump in. And this is the way how we can avoid the detour of electrifying the non-electric sectors which would require increasing by more than a factor 4 today’s electricity (and in parallel, to completely decarbonise the electricity sector).
In this context, the Nuclear Cogeneration Industrial Initiative of SNETP, through the GEMINI+ program, has already highlighted the benefit of the HTGR for an efficient cogeneration of decarbonised electricity and steam supply, based on a generic design. Reachable advances in safety and economy have been underlined.
HTGRs have been operating successfully already for decades, nuclear grade heat exchangers and high temperature materials are standard technology. In addition, the HTGR technology is well positioned in the various roadmaps, focused on future nuclear fission energy systems, as implemented in several countries. HTGR offers a quite unique wide range of usages due to the high temperature level of its process, among the nuclear fission systems.
Considering HTGR technology development it is relevant to comply with the objectives and timeline of the EU Green Deal policy at large, because the realisation of nuclear cogeneration in industry can effectively cut GHG emission, pollution and resource consumption (fossil fuels, metals, rare earths…).
GEMINI 4.0 has the overarching objective to build a bridge for the first two of said three sectors in this context over which a practicable and comparatively short way leads into a low-carbon future. Based on the feedback experience gained through the operating of HTGR with the comprehensive knowledge of hydrogen production processes which completely avoid the by-product of CO2, the missing gaps do not need extremely large steps.
The GEMINI 4.0 objective is to clear the way towards safety demonstration and subsequent deployment of high temperature industrial nuclear cogeneration with the system developed in GEMINI+, by:
• Consolidate the GEMINI+ system safety demonstration and have its licensing readiness assessed by regulators and TSOs including when used in poly-generation mode,
• Develop the capability of the GEMINI+ system to operate in a cost-effective way in poly-generation mode,
• Plan for the development of a EU consistent fuel cycle for this type of reactor with respect to fissile resources and to a safe and acceptable back end,
• Launch an ambitious communication plan towards political and industry stakeholders, as well as towards the public, aimed at removing obstacles to nuclear solutions for decarbonization of industry.
