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US 2022/0044833 A1Published application
Method, System, and Apparatus for the Thermal Storage of Nuclear Reactor Generated Energy
AssigneeTerraPower, LLC
InventorsRoderick A. Hyde, Muriel Y. Ishikawa, Clarence T. Tegreene, Joshua C. Walter, Lowell L. Wood, JR., Victoria Y.H. Wood
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method, system, and apparatus for the thermal storage of nuclear reactor generated energy including diverting a selected portion of energy from a portion of a nuclear reactor system to an auxiliary thermal reservoir and, responsive to a shutdown event, supplying a portion of the diverted selected portion of energy to an energy conversion system of the nuclear reactor system.
Claims21
-127. (canceled)
A method, comprising:
- providing a first portion of energy from at least one nuclear reactor of a nuclear reactor system to at least one energy conversion system;
- diverting a selected portion of energy from the at least one nuclear reactor to at least one auxiliary thermal reservoir, the selected portion of energy exceeding operational demand of the at least one energy conversion system;
- and
- storing the diverted selected portion of energy in the at least one auxiliary thermal reservoir in the form of a temperature change or a phase change in at least one heat storage material of the at least one auxiliary thermal reservoir.
1 more element
A method, comprising:
- providing a first portion of thermal energy from at least one nuclear reactor of a nuclear reactor system to a thermal reservoir;
- diverting a selected portion of thermal energy from the at least one nuclear reactor to at least one auxiliary thermal reservoir, the selected portion of energy exceeding a storage capacity of the thermal reservoir;
- and
- storing the diverted selected portion of energy in the at least one auxiliary thermal reservoir in the form of a temperature change or a phase change in at least one heat storage material of the at least one auxiliary thermal reservoir.
1 more element
A method, comprising:
- providing thermal energy from a nuclear reactor to an energy conversion system;
- diverting a selected portion of the thermal energy from the nuclear reactor to an auxiliary thermal reservoir;
- supplying, in response to a signal associated with shutdown of the nuclear reactor, thermal energy from the auxiliary thermal reservoir to the energy conversion system;
- and
- supplying, by the energy conversion system, electricity to the nuclear reactor.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.