Inventory control systems for nuclear powered closed-cycle gas turbine: technical studies on effect of working fluid options

The Inventory Control System (ICS) offer unique characteristics when modulating the gas turbine output power to match the required load demand. The unique opportunities it offers have made it to be widely used in most nuclear powered closed-cycle gas turbine plant design and operations. This paper presents a technical study on how the different working fluid options affect the design and performance characteristics of the inventory control system. The results from this study shows that using helium as cycle working fluid offers an advantage in terms of Reynolds effect on cycle efficiency and also enable the design for compact inventory tank size and weight which could have a direct effect on the capital cost, due to its thermodynamic characteristics. However, the long term operational cost of helium compared with other working fluid utilized in this study provides a reasonable argument to justify any investment decision.