As we transition to carbon-neutral energy systems and strive to enhance energy security, technologies that can generate electricity, heat and hydrogen independently of weather conditions are becoming increasingly important. In order to ensure the long-term security, sustainability and affordability of Hungary’s energy supply, and meet decarbonization objectives, it is particularly important to investigate nuclear technologies that can play a role simultaneously in the electricity system, the district heating sector, and hydrogen production. Among these technologies, special attention should be paid to small modular reactors (SMRs), especially those capable of operating in trigeneration mode to produce electricity, thermal energy and also hydrogen.

In recent years, several studies at the Institute of Nuclear Techniques of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics have examined the applicability of coupled energy systems and trigenerational SMRs in Hungary. Previous results have shown that such systems could contribute not only to carbon-neutral electricity generation, but also to the partial substitution of fossil energy carriers in the district heating sector, as well as to the support of carbon-neutral hydrogen production. The integrated analysis of such interconnected energy systems is particularly important in countries where the development of the electricity, heat and hydrogen sectors is becoming increasingly interdependent.

To carry out state-of-the-art energy system analyses, it is necessary to apply high-temporal-resolution integrated models that are capable of simultaneously accounting for production and consumption patterns, the interactions among different energy carriers, and the technical and economic constraints of various technologies. Such models make it possible to explore under what conditions, and to what extent, trigenerational SMRs could contribute to the operation, flexibility and decarbonization of the Hungarian energy system, while the role of weather-dependent renewable energy sources is also growing in the electricity system. Modeling can be used to analyze the optimal distribution of electricity, district heat and hydrogen production, as well as to evaluate how the technology performs under different market-, technical-, and regulatory conditions. Identifying technical limitations is also a key issue.

At the same time, when modeling coupled energy systems, it is not sufficient to examine only ideal operating conditions. A realistic assessment must also consider planned and unplanned outages, maintenance requirements, the effects of partial or complete capacity losses, and the possibility of installing new generation and conversion capacities. The economic and environmental evaluation of trigenerational SMRs can only be carried out in a comprehensive way; therefore, it is necessary to quantify various technical and economic indicators, investment and operating costs, as well as CO2 emission reduction potentials.

During the PhD research, the student will be required to carry out the following tasks:

1. Gain an in-depth understanding of the PyPSA software package and integrate its new functionalities into the modelling framework.
2. Validate the results obtained with PyPSA against those obtained with another software tool, which may be non-open source.
3. Develop a methodology for handling capacity expansion and deployment decisions within the model.
4. Calculate the relevant economic and technical indicators for SMRs.
5. Quantify the reduction in CO₂ emissions, the substitution of natural gas, and the reduction in import dependency.
6. Perform sensitivity analyses for changing market conditions.
7. Develop a detailed technical and operational model of trigenerational SMRs.
8. Determine the optimal conditions for the deployment and operation of trigenerational SMRs in Hungary.
9. Acquire probability-based methods that take generation outages into consideration and adapt them to the model.
10. Examine the potential role of heat, hydrogen and electricity storage in the system integration of trigenerational SMRs.
11. Identify the key technological parameters important for decision-making in the deployment of trigeneration SMR projects.