will produce 4.5GWth of heat , which is then converted into 1.76GWe of electrical energy resulting in an efficiency loss of 60 % ( equivalent to 2.8GWth of heat energy ) through the conversion process . To enable co-generation , a fraction of the steam produced could in principle be extracted at certain points of the steam cycle and be led to a heat exchanger to produce secondary steam or hot water for an external application . The fluid supplied to the user of the heat will always be kept separate from the water-steam cycle in the EPR , ensuring there is no impact on the safety case . The opportunity cost for the foregone electricity production has preliminarily been estimated to be about 48MWe for the maximum 200MWth heat extracted per unit . This amounts to roughly 3 % of SZC ' s total electricity output if the plant is configured to produce electricity only .

Research and development is ongoing within the project to develop the technologies that could make use of this heat , and a SZC led consortium working with Nottingham University , Strata Technology , Atkins and Doosan Babcock has recently been awarded funding by the UK Government to develop plans for DAC which could be powered by low-carbon heat from the new nuclear power station proposed for Suffolk .

Current assessments show that the technology could one day capture 1.5m

Direct Air Capture technology being developed by the Sizewell C led consortium .

tonnes of CO a year . That ' s enough to almost

2 offset the annual emissions of the UK ' s rail

network . In addition , the carbon captured by DAC can be combined with hydrogen produced by heat-assisted electrolysis ( potentially powered again by low-carbon heat from the station ) to make net zero hydrocarbons , which can be processed into jet fuel .

It is important to note that SZC ' s feasibility studies on the potential of cogeneration on the EPR design are still in progress at the time of writing this article , and therefore any conclusions are preliminary at this stage and are subject to further studies and analysis .

Construction of an EPR

Radiation Protection Today Winter 2021 23