Innovation for flexible use of nuclear power in JAEA

Kamide, Hideki ; Shibata, Taiju 

The flexibility of nuclear technology is one of the significant capabilities for advanced reactors when we consider their commercialization. JAEA has several research and development activities aiming at innovation that will provide further flexibility, including a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) and an HTGR. These activities are as follows: (1) Development of an innovative design evaluation code system for SFR and other advanced reactors, (2) Codes and standards for maintenance of innovative reactors, (3) Fast neutron irradiation using the experimental fast reactor, Joyo, (4) Demonstration of higher safety performance of HTGR and the capability of its application to hydrogen production. The details of these activities and how they contribute to improving the flexibility (i.e., operational flexibility, deployment flexibility, and product flexibility) of advanced reactors, such as SFR and HTGR, are explained in this paper.