On December 21, the technical proposal for the Gen-IV 60MW high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) was released in Tsinghua University. As the follow-up project of the 20MW HTGR demonstration project in Shidaowan in Shandong province, this 60MW project signifies that China’s HTGR technology has moved forward to the commercial stage. After the construction completion, it will also be the first commercial HTGR in the world.
The newly published technical scheme is based on the design of the demonstration project in Shandong Rongcheng with the same key equipment design and the same operating parameter as well the inherent safety.
The 60MW HTGR project features the design planning of 6 modules connected to 1 steam turbine. Besides, its coverage areas and dimension are almost equivalent to that of the conventional EPR nuclear workshop. The thermal power of each module reaches 250 megawatt, while the heat output of the unit will reach 1500 megawatt. And the electric power would be 655 megawatt. The generating efficiency could be 43.7%.
In regard to the future development and application of HTGR, the Mr. Zhang Zuoyi, the Chief designer of the HTGR Demonstration Project, introduced that as HTGR has the similar parameters with the thermal power; it has much broader application in replacing the coal, in the combined heat and power generation as well as in the nuclear hydrogen production. Meanwhile, as an important role in the “Going out” strategy, China has already signed the Memorandum of Cooperation of HTGR with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
