Improving the safety of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor "HTTR" based on Japan's new regulatory requirements

Hamamoto, Shimpei; Shimizu, Atsushi; Inoi, Hiroyuki; Tochio, Daisuke; Homma, Fumitaka; Sawahata, Hiroaki; Sekita, Kenji; Watanabe, Shuji; Furusawa, Takayuki; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; et al.

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 388, p.111642_1 - 111642_11, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111642

Following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency adapted High-Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) to meet the new regulatory requirements that began in December 2013. The safety and seismic classifications of the existing structures, systems, and components were discussed to reflect insights regarding High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) that were acquired through various HTTR safety tests. Structures, systems, and components that are subject to protection have been defined, and countermeasures to manage internal and external hazards that affect safety functions have been strengthened. Additionally, measures are in place to control accidents that may cause large amounts of radioactive material to be released, as a beyond design based accident. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission rigorously and appropriately reviewed this approach for compliance with the new regulatory requirements. After nine amendments, the application to modify the HTTR's installation license that was submitted in November 2014 was approved in June 2020. This response shows that facilities can reasonably be designed to meet the enhanced regulatory requirements, if they reflect the characteristics of HTGRs. We believe that we have established a reference for future development of HTGR.

Seismic classification of high temperature engineering test reactor

Ono, Masato; Shimizu, Atsushi; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Inoi, Hiroyuki; Tokuhara, Kazumi*; Nomoto, Yasunobu*; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Shinozaki, Masayuki

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 386, p.111585_1 - 111585_9, 2022/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111585

In the late 1980s during the design stage, the seismic classification of the high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) was formulated. Owing to the lack of operation experiences of the HTTR to sufficiently understand the safety characteristics of high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGR) at that time, the seismic classification of commercial light water reactors (LWR) was applied to HTTR. However, the subsequent operation experiences and test results using HTTR made it clear that the seismic classification of commercial LWR was somewhat too conservative for the HTGR. As a result, Class S facilities were downgraded compared to the commercial LWR. Moreover, the validity of the new seismic classification is confirmed. In June 2020, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority approved that the result of the seismic classification conformed to the standard rules of the reactor installation change.

Proposal of evaluation method of graphite incombustibility

Hamamoto, Shimpei; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Shimazaki, Yosuke; Ono, Masato; Shimizu, Atsushi; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

Proceedings of 2021 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2021) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2021/10

Since the HTGR has a large amount of graphite material in the core, it is necessary to assume an accident in which the reactor pressure boundary is damaged and air flows into the core. It is important to state that at the time of this accident, graphite does not burn and the accident does not develop due to the heat of oxidation reaction. Therefore, in this study, in order to evaluate the combustibility of graphite materials, we propose a method to compare the calorific value and heat removal amount of the material. When calculating the calorific value, the structural material of HTTR, a high-temperature gas reactor in Japan, was used as a reference. The amount of air in contact with the structural material is a value determined from the chimney effect. The amount of heat release is the sum of convection and radiation. As a result of comparing the heat generation amount with the heat removal amount, it was shown that the heat release amount was always larger than the heat generation amount. This result shows that the graphite material does not depend on the state at the time of the air inflow accident, the temperature decreases and does not burn. It is important to clearly explain the non-flammability of graphite materials when deciding how to deal with severe accidents in HTGRs. This quantitative evaluation method based on a simple theory is considered useful.

HTTR burnup characteristic analysis with detailed axial burning region using MVP-BURN

Ikeda, Reiji*; Ho, H. Q.; Nagasumi, Satoru; Ishii, Toshiaki; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Nakano, Yumi*; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Fujimoto, Nozomu*

JAEA-Technology 2021-015, 32 Pages, 2021/09

JAEA-Technology-2021-015.pdf:2.74MB

Burnup calculation of the HTTR considering temperature distribution and detailed burning regions was carried out using MVP-BURN code. The results show that the difference in k, as well as the difference in average density of some main isotopes, is insignificant between the cases of uniform temperature and detailed temperature distribution. However, the difference in local density is noticeable, being 6% and 8% for U and Pu, respectively, and even 30% for the burnable poison B. Regarding the division of burning regions to more detail, the change of k is also small of 0.6%k/k or less. The small burning region gives a detailed distribution of isotopes such as U, Pu, and B. As a result, the effect of graphite reflector and the burnup behavior could be evaluated more clearly compared with the previous study.

Nuclear data processing code FRENDY; A Verification with HTTR criticality benchmark experiments

Fujimoto, Nozomu*; Tada, Kenichi; Ho, H. Q.; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Nagasumi, Satoru; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 158, p.108270_1 - 108270_8, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108270

Preparation for restarting the high temperature engineering test reactor; Development of utility tool for auto seeking critical control rod position

Ho, H. Q.; Fujimoto, Nozomu*; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Nagasumi, Satoru; Goto, Minoru; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 377, p.111161_1 - 111161_9, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111161

Promising neutron irradiation applications at the high temperature engineering test reactor

Ho, H. Q.; Honda, Yuki*; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Ishii, Toshiaki; Takada, Shoji; Fujimoto, Nozomu*; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science, 6(2), p.021902_1 - 021902_6, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4044529

Report of summer holiday practical training 2018; Feasibility study on nuclear battery using HTTR core; Feasibility study for nuclear design

Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Matsunaka, Kazuaki*; Ishida, Hiroki*; Ho, H. Q.; Ishii, Toshiaki; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Kenzhina, I.*; Chikhray, Y.*; Kondo, Atsushi*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2019-008, 12 Pages, 2019/07

JAEA-Technology-2019-008.pdf:2.37MB

As a summer holiday practical training 2018, the feasibility study for nuclear design of a nuclear battery using HTTR core was carried out. As a result, it is become clear that the continuous operations for about 30 years at 2 MW, about 25 years at 3 MW, about 18 years at 4 MW, about 15 years at 5 MW are possible. As an image of thermal design, the image of the nuclear battery consisting a cooling system with natural convection and a power generation system with no moving equipment is proposed. Further feasibility study to confirm the feasibility of nuclear battery will be carried out in training of next fiscal year.

Feasibility study of new applications at the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor

Ho, H. Q.; Honda, Yuki*; Hamamoto, Shimpei; Ishii, Toshiaki; Takada, Shoji; Fujimoto, Nozomu*; Ishitsuka, Etsuo

Proceedings of 9th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2018) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2018/10

Excellent feature of Japanese HTGR technologies

Nishihara, Tetsuo; Yan, X.; Tachibana, Yukio; Shibata, Taiju; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Kubo, Shinji; Inaba, Yoshitomo; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Goto, Minoru; Ueta, Shohei; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2018-004, 182 Pages, 2018/07

JAEA-Technology-2018-004.pdf:18.14MB

Research and development on High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) in Japan started since late 1960s. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in cooperation with Japanese industries has researched and developed system design, fuel, graphite, metallic material, reactor engineering, high temperature components, high temperature irradiation and post irradiation test of fuel and graphite, high temperature heat application and so on. Construction of the first Japanese HTGR, High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), started in 1990. HTTR achieved first criticality in 1998. After that, various test operations have been carried out to establish the Japanese HTGR technologies and to verify the inherent safety features of HTGR. This report presents several system design of HTGR, the world-highest-level Japanese HTGR technologies, JAEA's knowledge obtained from construction, operation and management of HTTR and heat application technologies for HTGR.