Conceptual design of Polish HTGR released

Tuesday, 20 June 2023

The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) design - dubbed the HTGR-POLA - was developed by a team of the Department of Nuclear Energy and Environmental Analysis at NCBJ, working under the leadership of Professor Mariusz Dabrowski.

The helium-cooled reactor - measuring 12.3 metres in height and with a diameter of 4.1 metres - will provide 30 MW of thermal power. It will feature a prismatic-type core consisting of hexagonal blocks. Moderated with graphite, the reactor will use TRISO-type fuel with 8-12% enrichment. The primary forced circulation helium cooling circuit will operate at a pressure of 6 MPa. The helium temperature at the reactor outlet will be 750°C, at the inlet 325°C. The reactor will feature passive and active safety systems, with a planned lifetime of 60 years.

According to NCBJ, the HTGR-POLA could be used for cogeneration operation, with a maximum gross electric power of 10 MWe and high-temperature steam with a temperature of 540°C. It could also be used for industrial processes or for municipal heating.

The conceptual design was presented to the public for the first time on 12 June by Józef Sobolewski, the representative of the NCBJ director for the development of high-temperature reactors. The presentation took place at a conference in Warsaw organised by the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers.

"The conceptual design is the starting point for the development of the basic design, which will also include safety analyses and tests of the reactor's construction materials," NCBJ said.

NCBJ said its work on the high-temperature reactor is financed as part of a project of the Ministry of Education and Science. Funding for the project between 2021 and 2024 totals PLN60 million (USD14.7 million).

The HTGR-POLA project was prepared in cooperation with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), which has its own High-Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR), a 30 MWt prototype graphite-moderated helium gas-cooled reactor.

NCBJ began work on conceptual design of an HTGR research reactor in 2021. In November last year, an agreement between JAEA and NCBJ added the basic design of the research reactor to their ongoing collaborative R&D on HTGR technology. The agreement supplements an earlier agreement by providing for R&D cooperation on the research reactor.

High-temperature reactors capable of supplying steam of up to 1000°C could replace fossil fuel as heat sources for chemical and petrochemical industries, leading to the decarbonisation of many production processes as well as enabling the economic production of hydrogen.