Strongly coupled cogeneration increases the competitive value of nuclear reactors for industrial process heat.

We incorporate the thermodynamic efficiency benefits of cogeneration into an evaluation of the competitiveness of alternative nuclear reactor designs in supplying heat to a sample of industrial facilities in two regions of the US. Earlier work by Vanatta et al. had captured the capacity utilization benefits but had not incorporated the efficiency gain. Doing so increases the number of facilities for which nuclear supply is competitive. Doing so also reorders which design is most competitive for any specific industrial facility.