23nd April 2024
Japan Atomic Energy Agency
Accelerating deployment of Japanese HTGR technologies
in collaboration with the UK
- NNL and JAEA sign Collaboration Memorandum and License Arrangement for UK Coated Particle Fuel Programme -
The Government of the UK has identified High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) as a technology which can have a significant impact on the use of nuclear energy for decarbonization. The UK plans to promote the Advanced Modular Reactor Research, Development ＆ Demonstration (AMR RD&D) programme leading to the demonstration of HTGRs by the early 2030s. For the HTGR fuel program, it has progressed from Phase A (Pre-FEED, completed in February 2023) to Step 1 (Coated Particle Fuel fabrication and scale-up activities, to be completed in 2025). On 18th July 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) announced that National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) was selected as the project entity to implement the Step 1.
In order to accelerate research and development, and related activities for early deployment of HTGRs, JAEA and NNL signed comprehensive Memorandum of Co-operation in the field of HTGR on 6th September in London, UK.
Recently, a cooperative framework for the development of HTGR fuel has been established between JAEA and NNL under the comprehensive Memorandum of Co-operation in the field of HTGR. On 22nd April 2024, Mr. KOGUCHI Masanori, JAEA President, and Prof. Paul Howarth NNL CEO signed Collaboration Memorandum that specifies implementation items for the development of fuel manufacturing technology for an HTGR demonstration reactor and License Arrangement defining the intellectual property rights.
JAEA will collaborate with NNL to establish HTGR fuel manufacturing technology, utilising the unrivalled experience from Japan, to establish a manufacturing route for fuel for HTGR demonstration reactors in both the UK and Japan.
