R&D on High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor and Hydrogen Application Technology
What is High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) ?
- Helium gas cooled reactor with outlet coolant temperature of 950ºC.
- 80% of reactor thermal power can be utilized by a cascade energy system for hydrogen production, power generation and desalination.
Superior inherent safety
Specification of High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR)
- Reactor thermal power: 30MW
- Reactor coolant:Helium gas
- Reactor inlet/outlet coolant temperature :395/850, 950℃
- Reactor core material:Graphite
- Fuel:UO2
Safety demonstration test with HTTR
Test procedures
- Reactor power 30%(9MW)
- Tripping all gas circulators to reduce primary coolant flow rate to zero. → No core cooling!
- No reactor scram operation of reactor (No control rod insertion).→ No core reactivity control!
Test results
- Reactor was naturally shut down as soon as the core cooling flow rate had been reduced to zero.(Scram operation is not required.)
- Reactor was kept stable for hours after the loss of core cooling.(No fuel damage. No escalation into severe accident)
Naturally Safe!
more→ Department of HTTR
Technology of water splitting hydrogen production –Thermochemical IS process-
Reaction scheme and features
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■Thermal water decomposition:
- Heat over 4000ºC is required.
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■IS Process:
- Chemical reactions of iodine (I) and sulfur (S) enable water decomposition at about 900ºC.
→ No release of harmful chemicals
・HTGR supplies heat energy driving the process.
→ No emission of CO2
Hydrogen production test facility
- ■ Continuous hydrogen production was achieved at the rate of 30 L/h for 150 hours.(January 2019) ■Purpose:
- Verification of integrity of total process components made of industrial materials