The next generation "ultra supercritical" power plants may operate with steam pressures of up to 300 bar. However, material strength limitations prevent operation of high pressure equipment at temperatures above 600 C. Assume that the condenser for these power plants still operates at atmospheric pressure, P3=P4=1.01 bar.

a) is it possible to operate with boiler pressure P1=P2=300 bar without exceeding the maximum allowed temperature of 600 C?

b) a proposed process modification to allow high pressure operation is to use 300 bar steam to run a turbine that has as outlet saturated steam at a low pressure of 40 bar. This stream is then reheated in the boiler and used to run another turbine before returning to the condenser. Draw schematic equipment and TS diagrams for this process and compute the temperatures, work amounts, and efficiency for this reheating cycle.