Reheat Air-Brayton Combined Cycle Power Conversion Off-Nominal and Transient Performance

Because molten fluoride salts can deliver heat at temperatures above 600 °C, they can be used to couple nuclear and concentrating solar power heat sources to reheat air combined cycles (RACC). With the open-air configuration used in RACC power conversion, the ability to also inject natural gas or other fuel to boost power at times of high demand provides the electric grid with contingency and flexible capacity while also increasing revenues for the operator. This combination provides several distinct benefits over conventional stand-alone nuclear power plants and natural gas combined cycle and peaking plants. A companion paper discusses the necessary modifications and issues for coupling an external heat source to a conventional gas turbine and provides two baseline designs (derived from the GE 7FB and Alstom GT24). This paper discusses off-nominal operation, transient response, and start-up and shutdown using the GE 7FB gas turbine as the reference design.