Survey on research and development status of Japanese small modular reactors in OECD/NEA activities (2022-2023)

Takeda, Takeshi; Shibata, Taiju

JAEA-Review 2024-040, 29 Pages, 2024/09

JAEA-Review-2024-040.pdf:1.33MB

An important theme of Japan's 6th strategic energy plan is to indicate the energy policy path towards carbon neutrality by 2050. Policy responses for Japan's nuclear energy research and development (R&D) towards 2030 contain the demonstrations of technologies for small modular reactors (SMRs) through international cooperation by 2030. In light of this energy plan, basic policy initiatives over the next 10 years have been compiled to realize Green Transformation (GX), which simultaneously achieves decarbonization and economic growth. Looking overseas, activities of SMR R&D are active internationally, mainly in the US, Canada, Europe, China, and Russia. These activities are not only by heavy industry manufactures and R&D institutes, but also by venture companies. Under these circumstances, the NEA CSNI has gathered an Expert Group on SMRs (EGSMR) to help estimate the safety effects of SMRs. The EGSMR efforts required the submission of responses to several questionnaires whose main purpose was to collect the latest information on the efforts of SMR deployment and research. The first author of this report responded to this based on information from Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. as well as JAEA. Most of the responses from Japan to the questionnaires are the information that serves as the basis of CSNI Technical Opinion Paper No. 21 (TOP-21). In this report, the Japan's publicly available responses to the questionnaires arranged and additional information are explained, which complements some of the content of the TOP-21. In this manner, the investigation results of R&D related to SMR in Japan, focusing on the EGSMR activities (2022-2023), are summarized. The target of this report is to provide useful information for future discussions on international cooperation concerning SMR as well as nuclear power field human resources development internationally and domestically.

Countermeasure against Beyond Design Basis Accident of HTTR by using fire engine

Shimazaki, Yosuke; Jidaisho, Tatsuya; Ishii, Toshiaki; Inoi, Hiroyuki; Iigaki, Kazuhiko

JAEA-Technology 2024-005, 23 Pages, 2024/06

JAEA-Technology-2024-005.pdf:5.53MB

HTTR has newly assumed Beyond Design Basis Accident (BDBA) as part of conformity assessment with the new regulatory standards and has established measures to prevent the spread of BDBA. Among these measures, to prevent the spread of BDBA caused by cooling water leaks from spent fuel storage pool, the Oarai Research Institute's fire engine was selected as an equipment to prevent the spread of BDBA, and required performances such as pumping water performance were determined. After all required performances were confirmed by inspections, the fire engine passed the operator's pre-use inspection and contributed to the restart of the HTTR operations.

JAEA's efforts to demonstrate high temperature gas-cooled reactors for carbon-neutral

Inaba, Yoshitomo; Sato, Hiroyuki; Sumita, Junya; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Nishihara, Tetsuo; Sakaba, Nariaki

Nihon Kikai Gakkai-Shi, 127(1267), p.25 - 28, 2024/06

https://doi.org/10.1299/jsmemag.127.1267_25

Aiming to contribute to net-zero emissions through early social implementation of HTGRs, JAEA promote five projects: HTTR-Heat Application Test, HTGR Domestic Demonstration Reactor, UK HTGR Demonstration Program, UK HTGR Fuel Development Program, and Poland HTGR Research Reactor Basic Design. In addition to these five projects, this article provides an overview of the safety demonstration tests using HTTR.

Design of surface oxide film structure that maintain corrosion resistance under high temperature sulfuric acid environment

Hirota, Noriaki

Accounts of Materials & Surface Research (Internet), 9(2), p.58 - 66, 2024/03

In the Iodine Sulfur process (IS process) for a thermochemical hydrogen production method, sulfuric acid's high-temperature corrosion is a problematic. To solve this problem, the sulfuric acid decomposer utilizes on silicon carbide (SiC), which is a heat-resistant and corrosion resistant ceramic. However, using brittle SiC in practical plants remains a challenge due to difficulties in predicting decomposer lifespan caused by sudden impact-induced cracks and restrictions on upscaling component size due to furnace limitations in SiC production. This paper discusses the development of corrosion resistant metallic materials using two kinds of surface oxide films on metals, achieving sufficient corrosion resistance and long-term durability in high-temperature sulfuric acid environments through formation of a dense oxide film using a chemical densified coating and alloy compositional improvements with added aluminum, ultimately involving -AlO

Development of an RPV cooling system for HTGRs

Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi

Kakushinteki Reikyaku Gijutsu; Mekanizumu Kara Soshi, Shisutemu Kaihatsu Made, p.179 - 183, 2024/01

The HTGR has excellent safety, and even in the event of an accident where the reactor coolant is lost, the decay heat and residual heat in the core can be dissipated from the outer surface of the RPV, so the fuel temperature never exceeds the limit value, and the core stabilizes. On the other hand, regarding the cooling system that transports the heat emitted from the RPV to the final heat sink, an active cooling system using forced circulation of water by a pump, etc., and a passive cooling system using natural circulation of the atmosphere have been proposed. However, there is a problem that the cooling performance is affected by the operation of dynamic equipment and weather conditions. This paper presents an overview of a new cooling system concept using radiative cooling, which has been proposed to solve the above problem, and introduces the results of analysis and experiments aimed at confirming the feasibility of this concept.

Operation, test, research and development of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) (FY2021)

Department of HTTR

JAEA-Review 2023-016, 82 Pages, 2023/09

JAEA-Review-2023-016.pdf:2.31MB

The High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) is the first Japanese High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) with 30MW in thermal power and 950C of maximum outlet coolant temperature that is constructed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency located at Oarai-machi, Higashiibaraki-gun, Ibaraki-ken, Japan. The purpose of the HTTR is establishment of basic HTGR technologies, demonstration of HTGR safety characteristics and so on. The HTTR has had a lot of experience of HTGRs' operation and maintenance throughout rated power operations, safety demonstration tests, long-term high temperature operations and demonstration tests relevant to HTGRs' R&Ds. In the fiscal year 2021, as the HTTR completed activities to conform to the New Regulatory Requirements of Nuclear Regulation Authority, The HTTR restarted since the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake and carried out the Loss-of-forced cooling test without Vessel Cooling System (VCS) operational at 9MW (Three gas circulators trip and VCS is stopped.) as the safety demonstration test. This report summarizes the activities carried out in the fiscal year 2021, which were the situation of the New Regulatory Requirements screening of the HTTR, the operation and maintenance of the HTTR, R&Ds relevant to commercial-scale HTGRs, the international cooperation on HTGRs and so on.

Report of summer holiday practical training on 2022

Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Ho, H. Q.; Kitagawa, Kanta*; Fukuda, Takahito*; Ito, Ryo*; Nemoto, Masaya*; Kusunoki, Hayato*; Nomura, Takuro*; Nagase, Sota*; Hashimoto, Haruki*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2023-013, 19 Pages, 2023/06

JAEA-Technology-2023-013.pdf:1.75MB

Eight people from five universities participated in the 2022 summer holiday practical training with the theme of "Technical development on HTTR". The participants practiced the feasibility study for nuclear battery, the burn-up analysis of HTTR core, the feasibility study for Cf production, the analysis of behavior on loss of forced cooling test, and the thermal-hydraulic analysis near reactor pressure vessel. In the questionnaire after this training, there were impressions such as that it was useful as a work experience, that some students found it useful for their own research, and that discussion with other university students was a good experience. These impressions suggest that this training was generally evaluated as good.

Differential pressure rise event for filters of HTTR primary helium gas circulators, 1; Investigation of differential pressure rise event

Nemoto, Takahiro; Arakawa, Ryoki; Kawakami, Satoru; Nagasumi, Satoru; Yokoyama, Keisuke; Watanabe, Masashi; Onishi, Takashi; Kawamoto, Taiki; Furusawa, Takayuki; Inoi, Hiroyuki; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2023-005, 33 Pages, 2023/05

JAEA-Technology-2023-005.pdf:5.25MB

During shut down of the HTTR (High Temperature engineering Test Reactor) RS-14 cycle, an increasing trend of filter differential pressure for the helium gas circulator was observed. In order to investigate this phenomenon, the blower of the primary helium purification system was disassembled and inspected. As a result, it is clear that the silicon oil mist entered into the primary coolant due to the deterioration of the charcoal filter performance. The replacement and further investigation of the filter are planning to prevent the reoccurrence of the same phenomenon in the future.

Comparison on safety features among HTGR's Reactor Cavity Cooling Systems (RCCSs)

Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Funatani, Shumpei*

Proceedings of 2023 International Congress on Advanced in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2023) (Internet), 17 Pages, 2023/04

The objectives of this study are as follows: to understand the characteristics, degree of passive safety features for heat removal were compared for RCCSs based on atmospheric radiation and based on atmospheric natural circulation under the same conditions. Therefore, the authors concluded that the proposed RCCS based on atmospheric radiation has the advantage that the temperature of the RPV can be stably maintained against disturbances in the outside air (ambient air). Moreover, methodology to utilize all the heat emitted from the RPV surface for increasing the degree of waste-heat utilization was discussed.

Evaluation of power distribution calculation of the very high temperature reactor critical assembly (VHTRC) with Monte Carlo MVP3 code

Simanullang, I. L.*; Nakagawa, Naoki*; Ho, H. Q.; Nagasumi, Satoru; Ishitsuka, Etsuo; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Fujimoto, Nozomu*

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 177, p.109314_1 - 109314_8, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109314