Coolant chemistry of the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor 'HTTR'

Sakaba, Nariaki ; Nakagawa, Shigeaki  ; Furusawa, Takayuki* ; Emori, Koichi; Tachibana, Yukio 

Chemistry control is important for the helium coolant of High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) because impurities cause oxidation of the graphite used in the core and corrosion of high temperature materials used in the heat exchanger. In the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) which is the first HTGR in Japan, the chemical impurity concentration is restricted and its behaviour is monitored during reactor operations. The impurity is reduced by the helium purification system and the concentration is measured by the helium sampling system installed to the primary and secondary helium system, continuously. This paper describes the impurity behaviour during the rise-to-power test which is the initial power-up of the HTTR. Also, the amount of the emitted impurity to the primary circuit from the graphite component and insulator used at the concentric hot gas duct are evaluated. During the power up, any abnormal impurity increases were not obtained and the chemical composition of the primary circuit is sufficiently in the stability area to avoid carbon deposition.