High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors (HTGRs) provide high-temperature heat (700-950℃) well suited to coupling with Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOEC) for efficient, low-carbon hydrogen production. By supplying high-grade thermal energy directly from the HTGR’s coolant loop, this integration reduces the electrical energy demand compared to the conventional low-temperature electrolysis, improving overall system efficiency. However, integrating a high-temperature helium loop with SOEC system introduces heat integration challenges, including matching temperature and pressure profiles across the heat exchanger network, managing primary pressure drop, and minimizing exergy destruction during heat transfer. This work demonstrates the design and integration of an HTGR with an SOEC hydrogen production unit to evaluate the technical performance and economic viability of the integrated system. The performance of heat exchanger train is analyzed to identify optimal integration between the helium primary loop and SOEC preheating and steam generation. The integrated system is simulated in MATLAB using the operating conditions representative of typical HTGR operating ranges. Parametric investigations evaluate the effects of the reactor outlet temperature, helium flow rate, and SOEC operating conditions on hydrogen production rate, thermal efficiency, and total exergy destruction. The outcome of this study is a validated process model of the integrated HTGR-SOEC system, providing thermal-hydraulic performance and efficiency as well as preliminary techno-economic analysis of levelized cost of hydrogen production, with design recommendations for improved heat integration and optimization.

HTGR,SOEC,Techno-economic analysis,Nuclear Hydrogen,Energy Integration