In order to meet the growing demand for low-carbon heating and improve the operational flexibility and economic benefits of the heating system,a nuclear heating system(DHGHS)integrating a"Yanlong"pool-type low-temperature heating reactor(DHR-400),a heat storage pool,and a gas boiler was proposed.A central heating region in Liaoyuan City was taken as the application scenario of DHGHS,the equipment capacity and operation optimization with the goal of minimizing the annual cost were carried out.A comparison between DHGHS and four heating schemes including DHR-400 and heat storage pool,DHR-400 and gas boiler,gas boiler,and ground source heat pump was conducted.The results show that the heat storage pool with a rated volume of 3.15× 105 m3 and the gas boiler with a rated capacity of 82.79 MW can achieve the flexible operation of DHGHS throughout the heating period.The total number of power adjustments of DHR-400 in the whole heating period is only 177 times.The optimal annual cost of DHGHS is RMB 1.16×108,which is lower than the other four heating schemes.The optimal heating scale of DHGHS is 1.18× 107 m2.The work in this paper can provide theoretical guidance for the design and operation optimization of the multi-heat source nuclear heating system.