A new agreement between the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Polish National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) has added the basic design of a research reactor to their ongoing collaborative R&D on high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology.

The agreement was signed by NCBJ Krzysztof Kurek and JAEA President Koguchi Masanori in Tokyo on 22 November (Image: JAEA)

High-temperature reactors capable of supplying steam of up to 1000°C could replace fossil fuel as heat sources for chemical and petrochemical industries, leading to the decarbonisation of many production processes as well as enabling the economic production of hydrogen.

Japan has many years of experience operating the High-Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR), a 30 MWt prototype graphite-moderated helium gas-cooled reactor, and Poland has been working with Japan for several years on the potential implementation of such technology. NCBJ began work on conceptual design of an HTGR research reactor in 2021. The new agreement between NCBJ and JAEA supplements an earlier agreement by providing for R&D cooperation on the research reactor, which would be built in Poland at the NCBJ.

A contract concluded in parallel with the implementing agreement provides for the provision by 2024 of technical information to NCBJ regarding Japanese HTGR R&D, for joint use by the partners.

JAEA said it will continue to cooperate with NCBJ on the basic design of the HTGR research reactor to further upgrade and standardise Japan's HTGR technology developed through the construction and operation of the HTTR, aiming to "enhance international competitiveness of Japanese HTGR technologies".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News