Utilization of high temperature heat from nuclear reactor using inorganic chemical heat pump

A new chemical heat pump designed to utilize high-temperature heat generated from high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR) is discussed. The calcium oxide / lead oxide / carbon dioxide reaction system was found to be a suitable reaction system for the desired heat pump from experimental survey of inorganic oxide / carbon dioxide reaction systems. The proposed heat pump using the reaction system was expected to be heat storage and heat transform system for HTGR. To demonstrate the validity of the heat pump, equilibrium relationship and kinetics of the reaction system was studied experimentally. The practical operation conditions of the heat pump were revealed from the experiment. This system was available to store heat above 800°C and transform it to higher temperature under a thermal driving condition. The heat output of the heat pump was valued enough compared to a common system. The applied system of the heat pump combined with HTGR was proposed to show the way of effective utilization of HTGR.