Both small and large nuclear reactors are designed for baseload needs because they do not like power fluctuations. With advanced technologies, such as high temperature reactors and high temperature electrolysis, they can be used to decarbonise not just electricity production and district heating but also in transportation and many other industries.
For two years, the Ecomodernist Society of Finland has been organising seminars and publishing reports on heat decarbonisation with advanced and small nuclear reactors.
In September 2017, this society and Energy for Humanity published a report that evaluated completely decarbonising the Helsinki metropolitan area energy sector through the use of advanced nuclear reactors. The Helsinki area is characterised by large seasonal variations in heat and electricity demand, which represents a challenging environment for any decarbonisation effort.
The model used in the case study anticipates future annual energy use in district heating at 8 TWh, electricity at 12 TWh and 4 TWh of hydrogen for transportation. Of all the available models in different development phases, the study worked only with the following models: the HTR-PM pebble-bed reactor currently being constructed in China and Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor.
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