Near term test plan using HTTR (high temperature engineering test reactor)

Abstract

JAEA has carried out research and development to establish the technical basis of high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGRs) using HTTR. In order to connect hydrogen production system to HTTR, it is necessary to ensure the stability of plant dynamics when the thermal-load of the system is lost. Thermal-load fluctuation test is planned to demonstrate the stable reactor dynamics and to gain the test data for validation of the plant dynamics code. It will be confirmed that the reactor become stable state during a part of removed heat at HTTR heat-sink is lost. A temperature coefficient of reactivity is one of the important parameters for core dynamics calculations for safety analysis, and changes with burnup because of variance of fuel compositions. Measurement of temperature coefficient of reactivity has been conducted by HTTR to confirm the validity of the calculated temperature coefficient of reactivity. A loss of forced cooling (LOFC) test using HTTR has been carried out to verify the inherent safety of HTGR under the condition of loss of forced cooling while the reactor shut-down system disabled.