This paper deals with the application of the exergy concept to an energy production system involving a very high temperature reactor coupled with an innovative electricity-generating cycle. The objective is to propose a general approach to quantify exergy destruction of the involved process components, modelled by a thermodynamic simulator Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Beijing, China, 22-24 September 2004, International Atomic Agency, Vienna (Austria), HTR-2004; 1-11). The minimization of exergy destruction is then identified as the optimization criterion used in an optimization framework based on a genetic algorithm, in which the model is embedded. Finally, the approach is applied to electrical production by a Brayton-Rankine combined cycle connected to a nuclear reactor. Some typical results are presented. The perspectives of this work including the cogeneration of hydrogen and electricity are highlighted. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.