Case study on combined heat and water system for nuclear district heating in Jiaodong Peninsula

Abstract With increasing urbanization in China, many areas are facing a shortage of clean heat sources. To this end, numerous scholars have proposed the use of nuclear energy for heating. However, nuclear power plants are generally located far from urban areas. Some have proposed a combined heat and water (CHW) system that uses water from the water supply system as a heat carrier to provide heat to urban areas without the need for a return water pipeline. In this study, the Jiaodong Peninsula, which lacks freshwater and clean heat sources, is considered as a CHW system example, and the comparison with other traditional heating schemes, as well as the application prospects of the nuclear CHW system, are analyzed and discussed. The CHW transformation is planned using four AP1000 units of the Haiyang Nuclear Power (HYNP), which can supply 591 million tons of water and 74 million GJ of heat annually, satisfying 38% and 72% of the demand in the supply area, respectively. Compared with other traditional heating schemes, the HYNP CHW scheme in the Jiaodong Peninsula has social, environmental, and economic benefits.