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Abstract
Approximately thirty years ago, construction of the thorium high-temperature reactor (THTR-300) was started in HammUentrop. A new epoch in generating nuclear power was to begin, as this reactor line cooled by helium gas, was to be used not only for electricity generation, but also to supply high-temperature heat for a variety of uses. Accordingly, the federal and state governments together with the group of operators supported the development of this line. High-temperature reactors of the THTR-300 concept are characterized by these features: integrated design of the reactor pressure vessel; high safety and technological advantages of the reactor concept employing graphite fuel spheres and helium as a chemically inert primary coolant; high inherent safety as a result of the overall concept; optimum thermodynamic parameters of the high-efficiency water-steam cycle. The construction and operation of the THTR-300 suffered from a number of obstacles in the forms of licensing technicalities and licensing policy, which caused major delays in completion. In the absence of any perspectives of continued operation, the shareholders decided to decommission the plant in 1988. After the first partial construction permit in 1971, a total of 16 partial construction permits with 21 supplements and 1 350 new conditions had been considered necessary by the licensing authority up to the date of full commissioning. The planned delivery period of approx. 60 months thus grew to almost 200 months. As a consequence, the original costs of construction of approx. EUR 350 million rose to approx. EUR 2 050 million. Valuable experience was accumulated in the 16,410 hours of operation of the THTR-300. On the whole, the concept turned out to be excellent, also thanks to the commitment of all participating scientists, engineers, and economists.
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Gasification and partial gasification of coal in connection with combined processes for the generation of electricity and heat in combination with nuclear energy would result in conversion processes especially favorable from the energetic point of view. The author describes the steps on the way to this objective.
Over more than twenty years of operation of the AVR high temperature reactor, many important findings were made with respect to the behavior of high temperature reactors, such as the testing of fuel elements, the investigation of fission product transport, the increase to 950°C in the core outlet tempeature, and the testing and final routine use of plant shutdown from the operating state merely by means of the negative temperature coefficients. This article reviews operating experience of the high temperature reactors (HTR). Future directions in HTR development are presented.
On the energy market of the future the high-temperature reactor can acquire great importance in the long term in connection with coal gasification and water splitting. In conjunction with coal, it opens all areas of the energy market to nuclear energy. In contrast to the pressurized-water reactors of the 1300-mw class common at present, a high-temperature reactor with an output of 500 mw (HTR 500) has the advantage of better adaptability to increasing power needs and thus less need for premature investments. Other advantages relate to reserve power and grid loading. Finally, there are advantages resulting from the decoupling of process steam and district heating. Process steam data in the range between 250 and 500 degree C, which are used in a small number of chemical plants, in the Lurgi coal gasification process, and in heavy oil recovery, are HTR-specific.
Good experience with the AVR reactor (electrical output 15 MW) led to the erection of the THTR 300 (300 MW) at Hamm-Uentrop. After a stagnation phase from 1974 to 1982 due to licensing problems the THTR 300 was completed on time; nuclear power production began in September 1985. Now 12 large utilities, the Ruhr coal mining company and the association of the chemical industry will finance the first two-year planning phase of a HTR 500 (550 MW) by Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC). Parallel to this Kraftwerk Union AG (KWU) and BBC developed modular HTRs with 80 to 100 MW electrical output; modular HTRs of 140 MW are to be designed in the USA also. The development of high temperature process heat application for future use is technically far advanced.