Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors will work both as Base Load and Load Following power plants. LFTR’s operate at a much higher temperature than conventional power plants and operate at up to 45% electricity conversion efficiency, as opposed to 38% or lower for steam generators. In addition, because of the higher operating temperature it is ideal for hydrogen generation. The reactor would use the electricity generation to satisfy the current demand and produce hydrogen during times of low demand. This hydrogen would be temporarily stored and used for electricity production at peak demand. And hydrogen fuel cells produce only water whenoxidized, no CO2 or polluting fumes are generated. With the objective of reducing the cost of hydrogen production, solid oxide electrolyser cells (SOECs) are especially well suited. SOECs operate at high temperatures, typically around 800 °C. At these high temperatures a significant amount of the energy required can be provided as thermal energy (heat), and as such is termed High temperature electrolysis.
Many years ago, I worked in a bakery as a helper, and we had a stone oven, heated at night when the electricity rates were a fraction of day rates, and in the morning when the oven was hottest we baked danishes, followed by buns, ended up with bread and cookies as the day wore on. Stone ovens make really good bread. Stone storage can store a lot of heat. They are used as heat storage in solar concentrators, up to 100 GWh. there may be a great future for heat storage with Thorium Nuclear plants. When demand is low it is kept at full temperature, up to 550 C and the gas, normally run through a generator is heating the storage tank or building, ready to be providing heat for the generators at high demand. This would help to limit the need for large batteries to stabilize electric output and provide fast response to varying load demands.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 