Re-evaluation of electricity generation cost of HTGR

Fukaya, Yuji; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Sato, Hiroyuki; Goto, Minoru; Kunitomi, Kazuhiko

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi (Internet), 21(2), p.116 - 126, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.3327/taesj.J21.005

An improvement electricity generation cost evaluation method for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) has been performed. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) had completed the commercial HTGR concept named Gas Turbine High Temperature Reactor (GTHTR300) and the electricity generation cost evaluation method approximately a decade ago. The cost evaluation was developed based on the method of Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPC). The FEPC method was drastically revised after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Moreover, the escalation of material and labor cost for the decade should be consider to evaluate the latest cost. Therefore, we revised the cost evaluation method for GTHTR300 and the cost was compared with that of Light Water Reactor (LWR). As a result, it was found that the electricity generation cost of HTGR of 7.9 yen/kWh is cheaper than that of LWR of 11.7 yen/kWh by approximately 30% at the capacity factor of 70%.

High temperature gas-cooled reactors

Takeda, Tetsuaki*; Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Aihara, Jun; Aoki, Takeshi; Fujiwara, Yusuke; Fukaya, Yuji; Goto, Minoru; Ho, H. Q.; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Imai, Yoshiyuki; et al.

High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors; JSME Series in Thermal and Nuclear Power Generation, Vol.5, 464 Pages, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/C2018-0-05383-9

As a general overview of the research and development of a High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) in JAEA, this book describes the achievements by the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) on the designs, key component technologies such as fuel, reactor internals, high temperature components, etc., and operational experience such as rise-to-power tests, high temperature operation at 950C, safety demonstration tests, etc. In addition, based on the knowledge of the HTTR, the development of designs and component technologies such as high performance fuel, helium gas turbine and hydrogen production by IS process for commercial HTGRs are described. These results are very useful for the future development of HTGRs. This book is published as one of a series of technical books on fossil fuel and nuclear energy systems by the Power Energy Systems Division of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Conceptual plant system design study of an experimental HTGR upgraded from HTTR

Ohashi, Hirofumi; Goto, Minoru; Ueta, Shohei; Sato, Hiroyuki; Fukaya, Yuji; Kasahara, Seiji; Sasaki, Koei; Mizuta, Naoki; Yan, X.; Aoki, Takeshi*

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

Conceptual design study of an experimental HTGR is performed to upgrade the plant system from Japanese High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) to a commercial HTGR. Safety systems of HTTR are upgraded to demonstrate the commercial HTGR concept, such as a passive reactor cavity cooling system, a confinement, etc. An intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) is replaced by a steam generator (SG) for a process heat supply to demonstrate the technology for a commercial use. This paper describes the conceptual design study results of the plant system of the experimental HTGR.

Stabilization of MOX dissolving solution at STACY

Kobayashi, Fuyumi; Sumiya, Masato; Kida, Takashi; Kokusen, Junya; Uchida, Shoji; Kaminaga, Jota; Oki, Keiichi; Fukaya, Hiroyuki; Sono, Hiroki

JAEA-Technology 2016-025, 42 Pages, 2016/11

JAEA-Technology-2016-025.pdf:17.88MB

A preliminary test on MOX fuel dissolution for the STACY critical experiments had been conducted in 2000 through 2003 at Nuclear Science Research Institute of JAEA. Accordingly, the uranyl / plutonium nitrate solution should be reconverted into oxide powder to store the fuel for a long period. For this storage, the moisture content in the oxide powder should be controlled from the viewpoint of criticality safety. The stabilization of uranium / plutonium solution was carried out under a precipitation process using ammonia or oxalic acid solution, and a calcination process using a sintering furnace. As a result of the stabilization operation, recovery rate was 95.6% for uranium and 95.0% for plutonium. Further, the recovered oxide powder was calcined again in nitrogen atmosphere and sealed immediately with a plastic bag to keep its moisture content low and to prevent from reabsorbing atmospheric moisture.

Sensitivity analysis of xenon reactivity temperature dependency for HTTR LOFC test by using RELAP5-3D code

Honda, Yuki; Fukaya, Yuji; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Baker, R. I.*; Sato, Hiroyuki

Proceedings of 8th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2016) (CD-ROM), p.704 - 713, 2016/11

A high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) has superior safety characteristics. A loss of forced cooling (LOFC) test using a high-temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) has been carried out to verify the inherent safety of an HTGR when forced cooling is diminished without reactor scram. In the test, an all-gas circulator was tripped with an initial reactor power of 9 MW and re-criticality was shown. This study focuses on developing a point kinetics method with RELAP5-3D code for an LOFC accident. There is a large temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the core in an HTGR, and the temperature fluctuation range has been large in several accidents. We analyze the temperature dependency of xenon-135 reactivity and show that the temperature dependency of xenon-135 microscopic absorption cross-section affected the re-criticality time of the LOFC test.

Development of the method to assay barely measurable elements in spent nuclear fuel and application to BWR 99 fuel

Suyama, Kenya; Uchiyama, Gunzo; Fukaya, Hiroyuki; Umeda, Miki; Yamamoto, Toru*; Suzuki, Motomu*

Nuclear Back-end and Transmutation Technology for Waste Disposal, p.47 - 56, 2015/00

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55111-9_6

In fission products in used nuclear fuel, there are several stable isotopes which have large neutron absorption effect. It is known that there are several hardly measurable elements in such important fission products. JAEA had been developed the method to assess the amount of fission products which are hardly measurable and have large neutron capture cross section, under the auspices of the JNES. In this development, the measurement method was developed combining a simple and effective chemical separation scheme of fission products from used nuclear fuel and ICP-MS with high-sensitivity and high-precision. This method was applied to the measurement program for used BWR 99 fuel assembly. This method is applicable to the required measurement for the countermeasure to the accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plants of Tokyo Electric Power Company. This presentation describes the measurement method developed in the study as well as the future measurement plan in JAEA.

A Small-sized HTGR system design for multiple heat applications for developing countries

Ohashi, Hirofumi; Sato, Hiroyuki; Goto, Minoru; Yan, X.; Sumita, Junya; Tazawa, Yujiro*; Nomoto, Yasunobu; Aihara, Jun; Inaba, Yoshitomo; Fukaya, Yuji; et al.

International Journal of Nuclear Energy, 2013, p.918567_1 - 918567_18, 2013/00

https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/918567

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has conducted a conceptual design of a 50 MWt small-sized high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) for multiple heat applications, named HTR50S, with the reactor outlet coolant temperature of 750 C and 900 C. It is first-of-a-kind of the commercial plant or a demonstration plant of a small-sized HTGR system to deploy it in developing countries in the 2020s. The design concept of HTR50S is to satisfy the user requirements for multipurpose heat application, to upgrade its performance compared to that of HTTR without significant R&D utilizing the knowledge obtained by the HTTR design and operation, and to fulfill the high level of safety by utilizing the inherent features of HTGR and a passive decay heat removal system.

Conceptual design of small-sized HTGR system, 2; Nuclear design

Goto, Minoru; Seki, Yasuyoshi; Inaba, Yoshitomo; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Sato, Hiroyuki; Fukaya, Yuji; Tachibana, Yukio

JAEA-Technology 2012-017, 29 Pages, 2012/06

JAEA-Technology-2012-017.pdf:1.87MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency has started a conceptual design of a small-sized HTGR with 50 MW thermal power (HTR50S), which is a first-of-a-kind commercial or demonstration plant of a small-sized HTGR to be deployed in developing countries in the 2020s. The nuclear of the HTR50S was performed by upgrading the proven technology of High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) to reduce cost for the construction. In the nuclear design, reduce the number of fuel enrichment comparing with the HTTR is one of the important subject to be upgraded. The optimization of the power distribution in the core, which is required to suppress the maximum fuel temperature below the limitation, was completed successfully by using only three fuel enrichment and the number of fuel enrichment was reduced significantly compared with the HTTR.

Analytical work at NUCEF in FY 2007

Abe, Hiroyoshi; Haga, Takahisa; Fukaya, Hiroyuki; Sonoda, Takashi; Sakazume, Yoshinori; Ito, Mitsuo; Shirahashi, Koichi

JAEA-Technology 2009-008, 24 Pages, 2009/03

JAEA-Technology-2009-008.pdf:5.62MB

Analysis of the uranyl nitrate solution fuel is carried out at the analytical laboratory of NUCEF (Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Research Facility), which provides essential data for operation of STACY (Static Experiment Critical Facility), TRACY (Transient Experiment Critical Facility) and the fuel treatment system. Analyzed in FY 2007 were uranyl nitrate solution fuel samples taken before and after experiments of STACY and TRACY, samples for the preparation and pulification of uranyl nitrate solution fuel in the fuel treatment system and samples for nuclear material accountancy purpose. The total number of the samples analyzed in FY 2007 was 143. This report summarizes work related to the analysis and management of the analytical laboratory in the FY 2007.

Analytical work at NUCEF in FY 2005

Fukaya, Hiroyuki; Aoki, Hiromichi; Haga, Takahisa; Nishizawa, Hidetoshi; Sonoda, Takashi; Sakazume, Yoshinori; Shimizu, Kaori; Niitsuma, Yasushi*; Shirahashi, Koichi; Inoue, Takeshi

JAEA-Technology 2007-005, 27 Pages, 2007/03

JAEA-Technology-2007-005.pdf:1.97MB

Analysis of the uranyl nitrate solution fuel is carried out at the analytical laboratory of NUCEF (Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Research Facility), which provides essential data for operation of STACY (Static Experiment Critical Facility), TRACY (Transient Experiment Critical Facility) and the fuel treatment system. Analyzed in FY 2005 were uranyl nitrate solution fuel samples taken before and after experiments of STACY and TRACY, samples for the preparation of uranyl nitrate solution fuel, and samples for nuclear material accountancy purpose. Also analyzed were the samples from raffinate treatment and its preliminary tests. The raffinate was generated, since FY 2000, during preliminary experiments on U/Pu extraction-pulification to fix the operation condition to prepare plutonium solution fuel to be used for criticality experiments at STACY. This report summarizes work related to the analysis and management of the analytical laboratory in the FY 2005.