FESI is pleased to announce that a workshop designed to review and explore options to meet the future operational challenges for high temperature plant is to be held on January 23, 2020 in Room 1.15 in Queen’s Building, University of Bristol.

THEME

Future designs for nuclear, solar, and fossil-fuel power generation plant propose the use of supercritical steam cycles with temperatures and pressures as high as 750°C and 350 bar. These high temperature and pressures will demand the development of novel materials and engineering designs to achieve a long operating life of the order of 60 years. It is not clear that current developments will provide solutions in the near-term.

This workshop will explore the current state of materials and engineering research to assess the likelihood of successful design and construction of high temperature plant and the remaining research and development. The workshop will address the two linked approaches of improvements to properties of materials and new engineering design techniques.

Current thinking is that high operating temperatures will require the use of nickel-based alloys for components in superheaters, reheaters and steam transfer pipes, due to their better resistance to creep damage and steam oxidation. However, Nickel alloys are more costly than steels and could be in relatively scarce supply, considering the quantity required for new power plants worldwide. Alternative materials including new steel alloys may need to be developed to reduce the dependency on nickel-based alloys.

Although it is perhaps inevitable that materials able to operate at high temperatures will be required for some components of the plant, new engineering design approaches may allow the use of less exotic material elsewhere. A novel approach being explored in the UK is that steam transfer pipes could be manufactured with internal ceramic insulation and external cooling to reduce the temperature the pipes are exposed to and alleviate the requirement for more expensive high temperature materials. Recent Japanese proposals for nuclear reactors include a counter-cooled pipe exchanging high temperature helium coolant between the nuclear reactor and steam generator.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This workshop will be of interest to engineers, scientists, supply chain, and plant designers who wish to learn about the future developments in high temperature power plant.

FEES and REGISTRATION

Non-Member Fee: £250 + VAT
FESI Member Fee: £210 + VAT
Student/Retired Member Fee: £140 + VAT

To register, please refer to the event flyer by following this link.

Please note that delegates should register by 7 January 2020 and that Registration Fees must be paid prior to the event.