Methane reforming with fast nuclear reactor steam

The paper considers the concept of utilizing nuclear fast reactor (FR) with a sodium coolant for methane steam reforming. Steam conditions of a power FR, e.g. the BN-600 now operating in Russia: steam pressure P=13.2 MPa and steam temperature T=500degC, do not absolutely comply with the catalytic reactor working parameters, which produces a synthetic gas (syngas), a mix of hydrogen and carbon oxide. In this connection, the present paper addresses a possibility of utilizing steam produced in one of three independent the BN-600 loops in an amount of 640 t/h for preparing a gas-steam mixture with T=500degC and its additional heating in a converter up to the operating temperature, T=850degC, at the expense of natural gas burning or electrical energy supplying. In this case, the fraction of burned natural gas burning or electrical energy supplying. In this case, the fraction of burned natural gas significantly decreases. It is estimated that steam parameters of the BN-600 afford to obtain {approx}3{center_dot}10{sup 5} nm{sup 3}/h of hydrogen. It is also considered a concept of nuclear heat transfer to remote regions to be achieved with the aid of syngas incoming from the converter, its cooling further and transmitting through a pipeline to the place of its utilization, where it is restored into methane with the heat extraction. (author)