Current status of SFR development in Japan

Ieda, Yoshiaki ; Chikazawa, Yoshitaka  ; Kotake, Shoji*

Even though international SFR circumstances were against, we kept on with our R&D steadily. As results, it has shown that commercialized SFR concept, Japan Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (JSFR) could meet the targets. And Monju has restarted in May 2010. It is planned to be recovered for an incident on the in-vessel transfer machine aiming to 40% power operation. The undergoing FaCT project is pursuing commercialization of fast reactor cycle system around 2050 under cooperation of the government, utilities, venders and JAEA. In the FaCT Phase I, the key technologies for JSFR has been evaluated and the project is waiting for launching the phase II. Nevertheless the significance of nuclear energy will not be changed. We will focus on the issues learnt from the accidents on Fukushima Daiichi NPS and reflect its experiences into the safety design criteria for the next generation Fast Reactor systems.