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
