Development of safety design philosophy of HTTR-Heat Application Test Facility

Aoki, Takeshi; Shimizu, Atsushi; Noguchi, Hiroki; Kurahayashi, Kaoru; Yasuda, Takanori; Nomoto, Yasunobu; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Sato, Hiroyuki; Sakaba, Nariaki

Proceedings of 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE30) (Internet), 9 Pages, 2023/05

The safety design philosophy is developed for the HTTR (High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor) heat application test facility connecting high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) and the hydrogen production plant. The philosophy was proposed to apply proven conventional chemical plant standards to the hydrogen production facility for ensuring public safety against anticipated disasters caused by high pressure and combustible gases. The present study also proposed the safety design philosophy to meet specific safety requirements identified to the nuclear facilities with coupling to the hydrogen production facility such as measures to ensure a capability of normal operation of the nuclear facility against a fire and/or explosion of leaked combustible material, and fluctuation of amount of heat removal occurred in the hydrogen production plant. The safety design philosophy will be utilized to establish its basic and detailed designs of the HTTR-heat application test facility.

Development plan for coupling technology between high temperature gas-cooled reactor HTTR and Hydrogen Production Facility, 2; Development plan for coupling equipment between HTTR and Hydrogen Production Facility

Mizuta, Naoki; Morita, Keisuke; Aoki, Takeshi; Okita, Shoichiro; Ishii, Katsunori; Kurahayashi, Kaoru; Yasuda, Takanori; Tanaka, Masato; Isaka, Kazuyoshi; Noguchi, Hiroki; et al.

Proceedings of 30th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE30) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2023/05

Document collection of the Special Committee on HTTR Heat Application Test

Aoki, Takeshi; Shimizu, Atsushi; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Okita, Shoichiro; Hasegawa, Takeshi; Mizuta, Naoki; Sato, Hiroyuki; Sakaba, Nariaki

JAEA-Review 2022-016, 193 Pages, 2022/08

JAEA-Review-2022-016.pdf:42.06MB

Aiming to realize a massive, cost-effective and carbon-free hydrogen production technology utilizing a high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is planning a HTTR heat application test producing hydrogen with High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) achieved 950C of the highest reactor outlet coolant temperature in the world. In the HTTR heat application test, it is required to establish its safety design realizing highly safe connection of a HTGR and a hydrogen production plant by the Nuclear Regulation Authority to obtain the permission of changes to reactor installation. However, installation of a system connecting the hydrogen production plant and a nuclear reactor, and its safety design has not been conducted so far in conventional nuclear power plant including HTTR in the world. A special committee on the HTTR heat application test, established under the HTGR Research and Development Center, considered a safety design philosophy for the HTTR heat application test based on an authorized safety design of HTTR in terms of conformity to the New Regulatory Requirements taking into account new considerable events as a result of the plant modification and connection of the hydrogen production plant. This report provides materials of the special committee such as technical reports, comments provided from committee members, response from JAEA for the comments and minutes of the committee.

Safety design philosophy of HTTR Heat Application Test Facility

Aoki, Takeshi; Shimizu, Atsushi; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Okita, Shoichiro; Hasegawa, Takeshi; Mizuta, Naoki; Sato, Hiroyuki; Sakaba, Nariaki

JAEA-Technology 2022-011, 60 Pages, 2022/07

JAEA-Technology-2022-011.pdf:2.08MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency is planning a High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) heat application test producing hydrogen with the HTTR which achieved the highest reactor outlet coolant temperature of 950C in the world to realize a massive, cost-effective and carbon-free hydrogen production technology utilizing a high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR). In the HTTR heat application test, it is required to establish its safety design for coupling a hydrogen production plant to HTGR through the licensing by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). A draft of a safety design philosophy for the HTTR heat application test facility was considered taking into account postulated events due to the plant modification and coupling of the hydrogen production plant based on the HTTR safety design which was authorized through the safety review of the NRA against New Regulatory Requirements. The safety design philosophy was examined to apply proven conventional chemical plant standards to the hydrogen production plant for ensuring public safety against disasters caused by high pressure gases. This report presents a result of a consideration on safety design philosophies regarding the reasonability and condition to apply the High Pressure Gas Safety Act for the hydrogen production plant, safety classifications, seismic design classification, identification of important safety system.

Research and development on high burnup HTGR fuels in JAEA

Ueta, Shohei; Mizuta, Naoki; Sasaki, Koei; Sakaba, Nariaki; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Yan, X.

Mechanical Engineering Journal (Internet), 7(3), p.19-00571_1 - 19-00571_12, 2020/06

https://doi.org/10.1299/mej.19-00571

JAEA has been progressing to design HTGR fuels for not only small-type practical HTGRs but also VHTR proposed in GIF which can be utilized for various purposes with high-temperature heat at 750 to 950 C. To increase economy of these HTGRs, JAEA has been upgrading the design method for the HTGR fuel, which can maintain their integrities at the burnup of three to four times higher than that of the conventional HTTR fuel. Design principles and specifications of various concepts of the high burnup HTGR fuels designed by JAEA are reported. As the latest results on post-irradiation examinations of the high burnup HTGR fuel progressing in a framework of international collaboration with Kazakhstan, irradiation shrinkage rate of the fuel compact as a function of fast neutron fluence was obtained at around 100 GWd/t. Furthermore, the future R&Ds needed for the high burnup HTGR fuel are described based on these experimental results.

Contribution of membrane technology to hydrogen society; Development of membrane IS process

Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Sakaba, Nariaki; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Nomura, Mikihiro*; Sawada, Shinichi*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*

Nihon Kaisui Gakkai-Shi, 73(4), p.194 - 202, 2019/08

The thermochemical IS process is a promising hydrogen production method which can produce hydrogen in a large amount and stably with high efficiency by thermal splitting of water. Research and development on chemical reaction technology with membranes was conducted for the purpose of improving the efficiency of IS process and application of solar heat. The basic technology of ceramic membranes applied to decomposition reactions of hydrogen iodine and sulfuric acid was developed, and it is expected that the conversion rate on decomposition in each reaction can be remarkably improved. The basic technology of a cation exchange membrane applied to Bunsen reaction was developed with radiation-induced grafting technique, it is expected that the amount of iodine can be reduced to about one-fifth compared to the conventional method. These achievements are important technologies for practical use of the IS process.

Development of container using plasma sprayed and laser treated material for sulfuric acid decomposition of thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur process

Ioka, Ikuo; Kuriki, Yoshiro*; Iwatsuki, Jin; Kubo, Shinji; Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Sakaba, Nariaki

Proceedings of 27th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-27) (Internet), 5 Pages, 2019/05

A thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur processes (IS process) is one of candidates for the large-scale production of hydrogen using heat from solar power. Severe corrosive environment which is thermal decomposition of sulfuric acid exists in the IS process. A hybrid material with the corrosion-resistance and the ductility was made by a plasma spraying and laser treatment. The specimen had excellent corrosion resistance in the condition of 95 mass% boiling sulfuric acid. This was attributed to the formation of SiO on the surface. To confirm the production characteristics of a container using the hybrid material, the container which has a welded part, a chamfer, a curved surface was experimentally made. There was no detachment in the plasma spraying and laser treated layer of the container after the laser treatment.

Development of hydrogen production technology by thermal water splitting with solar heat

Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Sakaba, Nariaki

Shokubai, 61(2), p.92 - 96, 2019/04

The outline of the membrane IS process to produce hydrogen by thermochemical water splitting using solar heat at around 650C is described. The membrane technology has been applied to the three main reaction of the IS process to lower the reaction temperature and reduce the amount of circulation materials in the process. The key component technologies such as catalysts, membranes and corrosion resistant materials have been developed. The study was supported in part by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program, "Energy Carrier".

Enhancement of oxidation tolerance of graphite materials for high temperature gas-cooled reactor

Mizuta, Naoki; Sumita, Junya; Shibata, Taiju; Osaki, Takashi*; Kato, Hideki*; Izawa, Shoichi*; Muto, Takenori*; Gizatulin, S.*; Sakaba, Nariaki

Tanso Zairyo Kagaku No Shinten; Nihon Gakutsu Shinkokai Dai-117-Iinkai 70-Shunen Kinen-Shi, p.161 - 166, 2018/10

To enhance oxidation resistance of graphite material for in-core components of HTGR, JAEA and four Japanese graphite companies; Toyo Tanso, IBIDEN, Tokai Carbon and Nippon Techno-Carbon, are carrying out for development of oxidation-resistant graphite by CVD-SiC coating. This paper describes the outline of neutron irradiation test about the oxidation-resistant graphite by WWR-K reactor of INP, Kazakhstan through an ISTC partner project. Prior to the irradiation test, the oxidation-resistant graphite by CVD-SiC coating of all specimens showed enough oxidation resistance under un-irradiation condition. The neutron irradiation test was already completed and out-of-pile oxidation test will be carried out at the hot-laboratory of WWR-K.

Corrosion test of HTGR graphite with SiC coating

Chikhray, Y.*; Kulsartov, T.*; Shestakov, V.*; Kenzhina, I.*; Askerbekov, S.*; Sumita, Junya; Ueta, Shohei; Shibata, Taiju; Sakaba, Nariaki; Abdullin, Kh.*; et al.

Proceedings of 8th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2016) (CD-ROM), p.572 - 577, 2016/11

Application of SiC as corrosion-resistive coating over graphite remains important task for HTGR. This study presents the results of chemical interaction of the SiC gradient coating over the high-density IG-110 graphite with water vapor in the temperature up to 1673 K. The experiments at 100 Pa of water vapor showed that the passive reaction caused to form SiO film on the surface of SiC coating. Active corrosion of SiC in 1Pa of water vapor leads to deposits of various carbon composites on its surface.