IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 18, NO.
4, DECEMBER 2003
Power Generation Efficiency Improvement Through
Auxiliary System Modifications
Zhengyu Huang and Robert M. Edwards, Member, IEEE
AbstractThermal performance analyses have been performed
for some proposed modifications in the Three Mile Island Nuclear
Power Plant auxiliary systems, including: 1) auxiliary-condenser
circulating-water (ACCW) flow reduction; 2) ACCW discharge
diversion to the main condenser; and 3) feedwater heater drain
recycling. Analysis shows that the secondary-system thermal
efficiency can be improved by reducing circulating-water (CW)
flow to the auxiliary condensers at high CW temperatures. This
improvement decreases as CW temperature decreases. No benefit
can be obtained from ACCW flow reduction at low CW temper-
atures. It is also shown that electricity output can be increased
by diverting ACCW discharge to the main condenser instead of
directly to cooling towers as in the current practice. This increase,
though also varying with CW temperature, is consistently positive
within the considered CW temperature range. For feedwater
heater drain recycling, thermal efficiency improvement is signifi-
cant for the two lowest-pressure stages.
Index TermsNuclear power generation, power generation,
power generation auxiliary systems, power generation economics.
I. INTRODUCTION
I T HAS BEEN a persistent practice to achieve higher thermal
efficiency in both nuclear power plants and fossil-fired
power plants. The methods considered range from modifica-
tions in systems and components to performance monitoring,
etc.
In this paper, some modifications that can possibly improve
power plant efficiency have been proposed on two auxiliary
systemsauxiliary condenser system and feedwater heater
drain system in the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant
(TMI-NPP).1 The analyses were performed using an integrated
optimization procedure (IOP) [1], which is composed of a
MATLAB Optimization Toolbox, PEPSE code, and a Visual
Basic Application code specially designed to provide a user
interface to PEPSE and a communication bridge between
PEPSE and MATLAB.
In TMI-NPP, it was observed that the auxiliary condensers
have an excessively high vacuum compared to the main con-
denser. It was, therefore, suggested to reduce circulating-water
Manuscript received September 18, 2000; revised November 28, 2001.
Z. Huang is with Thermoflow, Inc., Sudbury, MA 01776 USA (e-mail:
hzy001@yahoo.com).
R. M. Edwards is with the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engi-
neering, the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA
(e-mail: e48@psu.edu).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEC.2003.816607
1The theoretical results presented in this paper are based on analysis using
the original plant thermal kit and do not necessarily reflect current plant con-
figuration and capacities. The purpose of this work has been to develop and
demonstrate the possible plant thermal performance improvement through the
considered system modification.
0885-8969/03$17.00 2003 IEEE
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525
(CW) flow to auxiliary condensers (i.e., thus to increase CW
flow to the main condenser to improve its vacuum), so that the
main turbine electricity output could be increased.
Analysis shows that by auxiliary-condenser circulating-water
(ACCW) reduction, the plant electricity output can be increased
by up to 839 kW at the CW temperature of 30 C (86 F). How-
ever, this improvement is not consistent. It decreases with CW
inlet temperature. There is no benefit obtained from auxiliary
CW reduction when the CW water is sufficiently cold. Opti-
mization results show that the optimal ACCW flow increases
with the CW inlet temperature decrease.
An alternative to ACCW reduction is to redirect the ACCW
discharge to the main condenser instead of to the cooling tower.
This alternative takes advantage of the design feature that CW
has a much lower temperature rise in auxiliary condensers
(1.67.8 C, or 2.814 F) than in the main condenser (15.6 C
or 28 F) [2]. Redirection of the circulating water leaving
auxiliary condensers to the middle of the main condenser is
predicted to result in an electricity increase of up to 1138 kW,
and more attractively, this increase is consistent for all circu-
lating-water temperatures considered.
The use of drain pumps with feedwater heaters to inject heater
drain into feedwater system or condensate system was the third
method analyzed to be able to improve thermal efficiency for
fossil-fired power plants [3], in which main steam is signifi-
cantly superheated. This technique is considered as a candidate
method to improve TMI-NPP thermal efficiency, though steam
in TMI-NPP is just slightly superheated. The analysis shows that
drain pumps at the low-pressure stages will result in significant
thermal efficiency improvement. The combination of all pos-
sible drain pumps applied to the four considered stages is pre-
dicted to result in a net power increase of 1238 kW. The use of
drain pump only to the lowest pressure stage is also predicted to
result in a power increase of 926 kW.
II. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TMI-NPP AND ITS CONDENSER
AND FEEDWATER HEATER SYSTEMS
TMI-NPP is a pressurized water reactor unit. The rated
net electricity output is about 819 MW. The main turbine
is composed of one high-pressure turbine section and three
low-pressure sections. Two feedwater pumps are each driven
by a steam turbine. The condenser system is composed of one
main condenser, which is composed of three compartments, and
two auxiliary condensers connected to the two feedwater-pump
turbines.
The main condenser is a Tandem Twin Shell, three pressure
level, single pass, and vertically divided surface condenser. See
Fig. 1 for details. CW goes from the inlet water box (unseen in
526
Fig. 1. Main condenser side view cutaway.
TABLE I
MAIN DESIGN DATA OF CONDENSERS
the figure) to the center water box through two banks of tube
bundles and mixes in the center water box. Then it continues to
go to the outlet water box (unseen in the figure) through another
two banks of tube bundles.
On the shell side, the main condenser is divided into three
separate compartments (pressure zones) by two internal support
plates. Steam exhausted from three low-pressure turbine sec-
tions is directed down to their corresponding condenser com-
partments, which have different vacuums.
The two auxiliary condensers receive exhaust steam from two
feedwater-pump turbines, respectively. Circulating water from
the natural-draft cooling towers is pumped and goes in parallel
to the main condenser and the two auxiliary condensers. The
main design data of condensers are listed in Table I.
CW to condensers is provided by the circulating water system
(CWS). The CWS is a closed cycled cooling system utilizing
two natural-draft cooling towers. CW pumps take suction from
the main circulating flume. The pumps discharge to two parallel
strings to the main condenser and auxiliary condensers and the
CWS terminates in two natural-draft cooling towers.
Feedwater system and condensate systems have two strings
of feedwater heaters,2 each including six stages (#2, #4, #6,
#8, #10, and #12). Except for stage #6, whose drain is pumped
forward to the main feedwater stream, all stages cascade their
2Here feedwater heaters refers to heaters in both feedwater system and con-
densate system. Consequently, feedwater heater system includes all of these
heaters.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 18, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2003
Fig. 2. Feedwater heater drain configuration.
drain into the next lower-pressure stage (for stage #12, to the
main condenser). The schematic configuration of feedwater
heater system is shown in Fig. 2 (only one string is shown).
III. TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS
To perform thermal-performance analysis, a procedure called
IOP is used. The detailed description of IOP is presented in
[1]. In brief, the IOP consists of three main parts: MATLAB
Optimization Toolbox [4], PEPSE [5] code, and a Visual Basic
[6] Application (VBA) interface. MATLAB Optimization
Toolbox is used to perform parameter optimization; PEPSE
code is used to build plant secondary thermodynamics model
and perform plant secondary-system heat-balance calculation;
while the VBA interface is used to communicate between
PEPSE and MATLAB.
In order for the analysis to be more reliable, the PEPSE model
was adjusted so that the results from PEPSE model calcula-
tion match well with the vendor thermal-kit heat-balance cal-
culation. Values of electricity output, heat rate, steam-extraction
pressures, and feedwater-heater performance indexes (DCA and
TTD) from PEPSE calculation are very close to those in the
thermal kit. Relative differences in extracted steam flow-rates
are within 1%.
IV. PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS
A. Scheme I: Auxiliary Condenser Circulating Water (ACCW)
Flow Reduction
Since the auxiliary condensers experience excessively high
vacuum compared to the main condenser, it is intuitive to
consider reducing CW flow to auxiliary condensers so that
more CW is forced into the main condenser to produce higher
vacuum, improving thermal efficiency of the main turbine. The
schematic diagram of the proposed modification is shown in
Fig. 3.
In this scheme, total CW flow is assumed to be constant, so
decreasing CW flow to auxiliary condenser will increase flow
to the main condenser.
B. Scheme II: ACCW Discharge Diversion
It has been noticed that the CW temperature increase in
auxiliary condensers is no more than 50% of that in the main
condenser under all conditionsthe design values are 15.6 C
(28 F) and 1.67.8 C F) for the main condenser and
HUANG AND EDWARDS: POWER GENERATION EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH AUXILIARY SYSTEM MODIFICATIONS
Fig. 3. Scheme I: ACCW flow reduction.
Fig. 4. Scheme II: ACCW discharge diversion (refer to Fig. 1 for the
inboard-water-box location in the main condenser).
auxiliary condensers, respectively. This means that the circu-
lating water discharged from auxiliary condensers can still be
used in the main condenser provided that piping configuration
and hydraulic (pressure loss) analysis allows.
For this analysis, a splitter is assumed on the auxiliary-con-
denser CW discharge pipe, from which a part of or all auxil-
iary CW flow can be diverted to the main condenser through its
center water box. A schematic diagram of this scheme is shown
in Fig. 4.
C. Scheme III: Feedwater Heater Drain Recycling
For system simplicity, drain of feedwater heaters in most
power plants is cascaded to the next lower pressure stage. In
this configuration, the drain from the higher-pressure stage
expels steam extraction to lower-pressure stages thus resulting
in irreversible losses. When the drain flows into the main
condenser, a part of cooling capability of circulating water is
lost. Both cases result in loss of power generation. To avoid
this kind of loss, feedwater heater drain can be pumped directly
to the main feedwater stream. In practice, pumps may not be
appropriate for all stages. But for analysis purposes, all stages
except stages #6, where drain pumps already exist and, #12,
are considered to have one drain pump for each string that can
pump partial or full flow of the drain to the main feedwater line.
The principle to add drain pumps to the system is that the
drain temperature should be no less than the main condensate
or feedwater temperature where the drain is pumped. With this
constraint, the drain from each stage is pumped to the point up-
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527
Fig. 5. Scheme III: Feedwater heater drain recycling.
Fig. 6. Effects on power generation of Auxiliary condenser CW flow change.
T : CW inlet temperature; P : System net power generation at design value
2
of auxiliary condenser CW flow of 12:8 10 lb=h (1613 kg/s).
stream of that FW heater (feedwater inlet). Since the drain from
FWH #6 is pumped forward to the main FW line, there is no
need to change the drain flow for stage #6. Since the pressure at
the FWH stage #6 drain pump inlet is lower than the drain pres-
sure of FWH stage #4, the drain from stage #4 can be directly
drained to the inlet of FWH stage #6 drain pump. Schematic di-
agram of this scheme is shown in Fig. 5.
V. RESULTS
A. Scheme I: AC CW Flow Reduction
Main results corresponding to three CW temperatures, 30 C
(86 F), 22.4 C, (72.3 F), and 15.6 C (60 F) are shown in
Fig. 6. Results show that at high CW temperature, decreasing
CW flow to the auxiliary condenser results in an increase of net
power generation. With further decrease of CW flow, however,
net power generation will drop down. There exists an optimal
CW flow at which the power generation reaches the maximum
at that temperature. As CW temperature decreases, this optimal
CW flow increases. At about 13 C (55 ), the optimal CW
flow reaches the design value. This trend is clearly shown in
Fig. 7 (a constraint for the optimization is set that the maximum
CW flow to the auxiliary condenser is the design value.
Net electricity increase by operating the system at optimal
CW flow to auxiliary condensers is 838, 227, and 0 kW at CW
temperature of 30 C, 22.4 C, and 15.6 C, respectively.
The reason for the electricity power increase at high CW inlet
temperature is that the operation of auxiliary condensers does
528 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CONVERSION, VOL. 18, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2003

Fig. 8. Effects on power generation of auxiliary condenser CW discharge

Fig. 7. Relationship between the optimal CW flow and the CW temperature. diversion to main condenser. T
2
The upper bound of the CW flow is chosen as the design value (12:8 10 lb=h
: CW inlet temperature; P : Gross power
generation without auxiliary condenser CW discharge diversion.
or 1613 kg/h).

not match that of the main condenser at the design CW flow (i.e.,
auxiliary condensers consume excessive CW to produce a low
pressure). Reduction of the CW flow to auxiliary condensers can
increase CW flow to the main condenser, lowering the main con-
denser pressure and, hence, increasing the work done by steam
in the low-pressure turbine sections. Although this change does
reduce the efficiency of the auxiliary condensers by increasing
steam flow to drive feedwater pumps, this reduction is offset by
the main condenser vacuum improvement if the flow change is
within a proper range.
At low CW temperature, however, the pressures at main con-
denser compartments are already very low, a small amount of
CW flow increase does not significantly improve vacuum in the
main condenser. However, the decrease in auxiliary-condenser
CW flow makes auxiliary condensers less efficient and this ef-
fect is not offset by the vacuum improvement in the main con-
denser. This can be seen in Fig. 6 for the case that CW inlet
temperature is 15.6 C (60 F), which shows that the optimal
auxiliary CW flow rate is close to the design point.
Fig. 9. Effects of feedwater drain diversion.

B. Scheme II: Diversion of Auxiliary-Condenser CW
Discharge
Main results corresponding to three CW temperatures, 30 C
(86 F), 22.4 C (72.3 F), and 15.6 C (60 F) are shown in
Fig. 8.
At a given CW inlet temperature, electricity output increases
due to auxiliary-condenser CW (ACCW) discharge diversion is
almost proportional to the diverting fraction.
The maximum electricity output increases are expected to be
1138, 770, and 263 kW obtained at CW inlet temperature of 30
C (86 F), 22.4 C, (72.3 F), and 15.6 C (60 F), respec-
tively, with full ACCW discharge diversion. (In this sense, the
expression ACCW redirection can be used.)
The main contribution of electricity output due to ACCW dis-
charge diversion is mainly from the main condenser hot com-
partment vacuum improvement. There is no vacuum change in
the cold compartment and little vacuum change in the warm
compartment.
The electricity output increase also varies with the CW inlet
temperature. This trend is explicitly depicted in Fig. 8. Unlike
ACCW flow optimization, however, the electricity output in-
crease from auxiliary-condenser CW discharge diversion is al-
ways the greatest at full diversion for all CW temperatures.
C. Scheme III: Feedwater Heater Drain Recycling
Increase of net power generation from the system is plotted
versus the drain diversion fraction for all four individual con-
sidered FWH stages and for some stage combinations at an air
temperature of 21 (70 ), shown in Fig. 9.
It is clear from Fig. 9 that for all individual FWH stages and
all combinations, the net increase of power generation (power
consumption of drain pumps has been deducted) is an increasing
function of diversion fractions. At full flow diversions, power
generation is maximized. Table II gives power generation net
increase at full flow diversion for several feedwater heater stage
combinations.

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HUANG AND EDWARDS: POWER GENERATION EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH AUXILIARY SYSTEM MODIFICATIONS
TABLE II
NET POWER GENERATION INCREASE AT FULL DIVERSION OF DIFFERENT FWH
STAGE COMBINATIONS
From the point of cost-benefit consideration, modification
made only to stage #10 might be of interest to be implemented.
D. Comparison of the Three Schemes
Scheme I (auxiliary-condenser CW flow reduction) may be
the easiest one to implement with respect to mechanical system
change. Only a control valve is needed to install on the CW
supply branch line to the auxiliary condensers and no piping
reconfiguration is required. However, for optimal operation, the
auxiliary CW flow should be automatically adjusted in accor-
dance with CW inlet temperature. To this end, a reliable con-
trol system needs to be developed and maintained, which causes
an additional cost for the reconstruction and operation/mainte-
nance of the system.
Scheme II (diversion of auxiliary-condenser CW discharge
to the main condenser) leads to a consistent electricity output
increase and this increase is greater than that from Scheme I
(ACCW flow reduction). This means that there is no parameter
to adjust for optimal operation. However, this change requires
retrofit of the plant piping system, specifically, lines from the
auxiliary condensers to the center water box of the main con-
denser need to be added. For proper operation, the pressure at
the center box must be lower than that at the auxiliary condenser
CW outlet with a certain amount of margin. Detailed system hy-
draulic analyzes are needed, especially on the impacts of this
change on the CW flow to auxiliary condensers and the main
condenser. Moreover, it needs the analysis of possible impacts
on the mechanical structure of the main condenser. The advan-
tage of Scheme II over Scheme I is that once the system config-
uration has been modified, there is no additional cost for system
operation and maintenance.
Scheme III (feedwater heater drain recycling) has the similar
effect on net power generation increase as Scheme II (ACCW
flow redirection). However, unlike Scheme II, which only needs
piping reconfiguration, Scheme III needs additional active me-
chanical componentsheater drain pumpsto overcome the
backpressure on the main feedwater line. The main concern is
the significantly increased cost for system retrofit and opera-
tion/maintenance. Another concern is about the mechanical ef-
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529
ficiency of the heater drain pumps. To benefit from Scheme III,
there is a certain limit for pump efficiency since the power con-
sumption of these pumps takes a significant part of the addi-
tional power generation due to this modification. Too low pump
efficiency may cause the reversed effectnet power output in-
crease may be negative. Close monitoring of the system oper-
ation and careful maintenance of the system are essential for
better system performance.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Thermal efficiency improvement by some proposed auxil-
iary system modifications has been investigated for TMI nuclear
power plant. Electricity output can be increased by up to 839
kW and 1138 kW with auxiliary-condenser circulating-water
flow reduction and CW discharge diversion, respectively. Redi-
rection of ACCW to the main condenser is shown to be easy
to implement and has a persistent effect on thermal efficiency
improvement.
Though complicated by the requirement of drain pumps,
feedwater heater drain recycling is also able to significantly
increase electricity output, given that the pump efficiency is
not too low. Drain recycling at stage #10 is shown to be the
most promising, which is predicted to increase power output
of 926 kW.
REFERENCES
[1] Z. Huang, R. M. Edwards, and M. Fauber, Thermal performance anal-
ysis of TMI NPP auxiliary condenser CW reduction and diversion using
integrated optimization procedure, in Proc. 8th Int. Conf. Nucl. Eng.,
Apr. 2000, ICONE-8731.
[2] TMI Operations Plant Manual, 3rd ed., 1994.
[3] W. Lin, Quantitative Analysis of Thermal Systems in Fossil Fired Power
Plants (in Chinese). Xian, China: Xian Jiao Tong Univ. Press, 1985.
[4] Optimization Toolbox for Use with MATLAB, Users Guide, The Math-
works, Inc., 1999.
[5] G. L. Minner et al., PEPSE: Applications Manual: SCIENTECH, Inc.,
1998.
[6] G. Connell, Visual Basic 5: From the Ground Up. New York: McGraw-
Hill, 1997.
Zhengyu Huang received the B.S. and M.S degrees in nuclear engineering and
nuclear engineering and nuclear safety from Harbin Shipbuilding Engineering
Institute, Harbin, China, in 1988 and 1991, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in
nuclear engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Currently, he is a Software Engineer with Thermoflow, Inc., Sudbury, MA. He
was an Engineer with Beijing Institute of Nuclear Engineering, Beijing, China,
from 1991 to 1997. His research interests include power plant system heat bal-
ance calculation and system optimization, reactor control, and simulation.
Robert M. Edwards (M89) received the B.S. degree in nuclear engineering
from The Pennsylvania State University (PSU), University Park, in 1971, the
M.S. degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
in 1972, and the Ph.D. degree in nuclear engineering from PSU in 1991.
Currently, he is a Professor in nuclear engineering at Pennsylvania State Uni-
versity. Prior to returning to PSU, he was the Director of software development
at LeMont Scientific, State College, PA. In the early 1970s, he was with General
Atomic, San Diego, CA. His research interests are in control and simulation.