Basic design and economical evaluation of Gas Turbine High Temperature Reactor 300 (GTHTR300)

Kunitomi, Kazuhiko ; Shiozawa, Shusaku; Yan, X.

Japan Atomic Energy Agency had been engaging in the basic design and development of Gas Turbine High Temperature Reactor 300 (GTHTR300). Costs of capital, fuel, and operation and maintenance have been estimated to confirm economical feasibility of the GTHTR300. The cost of electricity for the GTHTR300 is estimated to be below US 3.3 cents/kWh (4 yen/kWh), which is about two-third of that of the current LWRs in Japan. The results confirm that the net power generation cost of the GTHTR300 is much lower than that of the LWR, indicating that the GTHTR300 plant consisting of small-scale reactor units can be economically competitive to the latest large-scale LWR. The contents and results of the economical evaluation will be presented together with the outline of the GTHTR300 design.