Open Access
Fuel-Cycle and Nuclear Material Disposition Issues Associated with High-Temperature Gas Reactors
David Shropshire,J.S. Herring +1 more
TLDR
A review of the nuclear fuel cycles supporting early and present day gas reactors, and identifying challenges for the advanced fuel cycles and waste management systems supporting the next generation of HTGRs, including the Very High Temperature Reactor, which is under development in the Generation IV Program is presented in this paper.Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to facilitate a better understanding of the fuel-cycle and nuclear material disposition issues associated with high-temperature gas reactors (HTGRs). This paper reviews the nuclear fuel cycles supporting early and present day gas reactors, and identifies challenges for the advanced fuel cycles and waste management systems supporting the next generation of HTGRs, including the Very High Temperature Reactor, which is under development in the Generation IV Program. The earliest gas-cooled reactors were the carbon dioxide (CO2)-cooled reactors. Historical experience is available from over 1,000 reactor-years of operation from 52 electricity-generating, CO2-cooled reactor plants that were placed in operation worldwide. Following the CO2 reactor development, seven HTGR plants were built and operated. The HTGR came about from the combination of helium coolant and graphite moderator. Helium was used instead of air or CO2 as the coolant. The helium gas has a significant technical base due to the experience gained in the United States from the 40-MWe Peach Bottom and 330-MWe Fort St. Vrain reactors designed by General Atomics. Germany also built and operated the 15-MWe Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor (AVR) and the 300-MWe Thorium High-Temperature Reactor (THTR) power plants. The AVR, THTR, Peach Bottom and Fort St. Vrainmore » all used fuel containing thorium in various forms (i.e., carbides, oxides, thorium particles) and mixtures with highly enriched uranium. The operational experience gained from these early gas reactors can be applied to the next generation of nuclear power systems. HTGR systems are being developed in South Africa, China, Japan, the United States, and Russia. Elements of the HTGR system evaluated included fuel demands on uranium ore mining and milling, conversion, enrichment services, and fuel fabrication; fuel management in-core; spent fuel characteristics affecting fuel recycling and refabrication, fuel handling, interim storage, packaging, transportation, waste forms, waste treatment, decontamination and decommissioning issues; and low-level waste (LLW) and high-level waste (HLW) disposal.« lessread more
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The Future of the Nuclear Industry Reconsidered : Risks, Uncertainties, and Continued Potential
TL;DR: In this paper, a promising direction for nuclear development might be to downsize reactors from the gigawatt scale to less-complex smaller units that are more affordable, since they can more effectively address the energy needs of small developing countries.
ReportDOI
High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors Lessons Learned Applicable to the Next Generation Nuclear Plant
J. M. Beck,L. F. Pincock +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify possible issues highlighted by these lessons learned that could apply to the NGNP in reducing technical risks commensurate with the current phase of design.
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Small Modular Reactors for Enhancing Energy Security in Developing Countries
TL;DR: In this paper, small modular reactors (SMRs) have been attracting considerable attention around the world, and the incremental capacity expansion associated with SMR deployment could provide a better match (than the large-scale reactors) to the limited grid capacity of many developing countries.
Journal ArticleDOI
Review of the microheterogeneous thoria‐urania fuel for micro‐sized high temperature reactors
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Defining the performance envelope of reactivity-initiated accidents in a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors defined an envelope of possible transient conditions during two reactivity-initiated accidents (RIAs) in a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (mHTGR).
References
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Design of high temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR)
TL;DR: The High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) as discussed by the authors is a graphite-moderated and helium gas-cooled reactor with 30 MW in thermal output and outlet coolant temperature of 850degC for rated operation and 950 degC for high temperature test operation.
Journal ArticleDOI
GTHTR300 design and development
TL;DR: The Gas Turbine High Temperature Reactor of 300 MWe nominal capacity (GTHTR300) as mentioned in this paper was designed and developed at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI).
Journal ArticleDOI
The gas-turbine modular helium reactor
Journal ArticleDOI
The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor : presentation and paper
TL;DR: The PBMR project should be seen against the background of the particular economic circumstances of Eskom, the project's dominant investor as discussed by the authors, which is one of the world's largest utilities by generation, with total capacity of almost 40 000 MWe, of which about 85% is coal-fired.
The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Project
F. H. Southworth,P. E. MacDonald +1 more
TL;DR: The Next Generation Nuclear Power (NGNP) project as mentioned in this paper is a project at Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) to demonstrate emissions-free nuclear assisted electricity and hydrogen production by 2015.