Preliminary Study on Helium Turbomachine for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor

In the high temperature gascooled reactor (HTGR), gas turbine cycle is a new concept in the field of nuclear power. It combines two technologies of HTGR and gas turbine cycle, which represent the stateoftheart technologies of nuclear power and fossil fuel generation respectively. This approach is expected to improve safety and economy of nuclear power plant significantly. So it is a potential scheme with competitiveness. The heatrecuperated cycle is the main stream of gas turbine cycle. In this cycle, the work medium is helium, which is very different from the air, so that the design features of the helium turbomachine and combustion gas turbomachine are different. The paper shows the basic design consideration for the heatrecuperated cycle as well as helium turbomachine and highlights its main design features compared with combustion gas turbomachine.