Further Strengthening Cooperation with the UK Towards Commercialization of HTGR
- Arrangement concluded with the Office for Nuclear Regulation of the UK for the information exchange and cooperation in the safety of HTGR -

• In the UK, the commercialization of High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR), a kind of advanced modular reactor (AMR), has attracted much attention, as one of the solutions to achieve net zero emission of greenhouse gas by 2050.
• In July 2019, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of the UK concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on Clean Energy Innovation, including encouraging cooperation in the development and deployment of new types of reactors, including HTGR. The MOC declares the promotion of dialogue among relevant public agencies, national laboratories, universities and private sectors of both the countries.
• In response to the MOC, in October 2020, JAEA and the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) of the UK agreed to amend the technical cooperation arrangement to add a new item of the HTGR technology fields and started the cooperation.
• Today, JAEA and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) of the UK concluded the arrangement for the information exchange and cooperation in the safety of HTGR. This strengthens the cooperation concerning HTGR development with the UK from the both sides of technology development with NNL and regulation with ONR.
• For the commercialization of HTGR, regulations considering the excellent safety features of HTGR are necessary. At the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), JAEA has promoted the activity towards international standardization of HTGR safety standards based on the experiences of the safety design, construction and operation of the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR).
• Cooperating with the UK and having high expectation for the commercialization of HTGR, JAEA aims to promote the international standardization of Japan’s HTGR technologies established through the construction and operation of the HTTR and to strengthen international competitiveness of Japan’s technologies. JAEA will contribute to mitigate climate change issues for which urgent international measures are necessary. Once ONR adopts Japan’s safety standards and technologies, the promotion of participation of Japanese industries with the experiences of the HTTR for the UK market is expected when the UK introduces AMR in the future.