Status of and Prospects for Gas-Cooled Reactors
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1 PROCESS STEAM \7 1 • • 1 1 I I II I I 11 11 •• •• 11 •• aa 1 — TECHNICAL REPORTS SERIES No. 235 Status of and Prospects for Gas-Cooled Reactors INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA, 1984 STATUS OF AND PROSPECTS FOR GAS-COOLED REACTORS The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN HAITI PARAGUAY ALBANIA HOLY SEE PERU ALGERIA HUNGARY PHILIPPINES ARGENTINA ICELAND POLAND AUSTRALIA INDIA PORTUGAL AUSTRIA INDONESIA QATAR BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF ROMANIA BELGIUM IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA BOLIVIA IRELAND SENEGAL BRAZIL ISRAEL SIERRA LEONE BULGARIA ITALY SINGAPORE BURMA IVORY COAST SOUTH AFRICA BYELORUSSIAN SOVIET JAMAICA SPAIN SOCIALIST REPUBLIC JAPAN SRI LANKA CAMEROON JORDAN SUDAN CANADA KENYA SWEDEN CHILE KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SWITZERLAND CHINA KUWAIT SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COLOMBIA LEBANON THAILAND COSTA RICA LIBERIA TUNISIA CUBA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA TURKEY CYPRUS LIECHTENSTEIN UGANDA CZECHOSLOVAKIA LUXEMBOURG UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA MADAGASCAR REPUBLIC DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S MALAYSIA UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF KOREA MALI REPUBLICS DENMARK MAURITIUS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MEXICO UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT ECUADOR MONACO BRITAIN AND NORTHERN EGYPT MONGOLIA IRELAND EL SALVADOR MOROCCO UNITED REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA NAMIBIA TANZANIA FINLAND NETHERLANDS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FRANCE NEW ZEALAND URUGUAY GABON NICARAGUA VENEZUELA GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC NIGER VIET NAM GERMANY, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA YUGOSLAVIA GHANA NORWAY ZAIRE GREECE PAKISTAN ZAMBIA GUATEMALA PANAMA The Agency's Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is "to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world". © IAEA, 1984 Permission to reproduce or translate the information contained in this publication may be obtained by writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramerstrasse 5, P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. Printed by the IAEA in Austria April 1984 TECHNICAL REPORTS SERIES No. 235 STATUS OF AND PROSPECTS FOR GAS-COOLED REACTORS INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 1984 STATUS OF AND PROSPECTS FOR GAS-COOLED REACTORS IAEA, VIENNA, 1984 STI/DOC/lO/235 ISBN 92-0-155084-7 FOREWORD The widespread interest in the development of gas-cooled reactors and their application for electricity generation and process heat production has highlighted the need to establish an international forum for the exchange of information in this area. In 1978 the IAEA established the International Working Group on Gas-Cooled Reactors (IWGCR) (see Annex I) in order to promote an exchange of information on national programmes and on new developments and experience and to stimulate international co-operation on gas-cooled reactor development. At its last meeting, the IWGCR recommended that the Agency prepare a report to disseminate up-to-date technical information to all Agency Member States on fast and thermal reactors cooled by C02, helium or N204. The present Technical Report, which is the result of that recommendation, is based mainly on submissions from Member States, and the Agency would like to thank all those individuals and institutions who have contributed to it. The Agency would also like to express its gratitude to the members of the Drafting Committee (see Annex II), who met several times to review the sub- missions and the status of the report, and who thus contributed materially to its successful completion. In particular, the work of Mr. F.J. Krings*, who prepared the first draft of this report, should be mentioned. * It is with great regret that the Agency has to announce that Mr. Krings died in October 1983. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. General information 2 1.2. Incentives for the application of gas-cooled reactors 4 1.2.1. General outline 4 1.2.2. National incentives for the cogeneration application and process heat application 6 1.2.2.1. National incentives in the USA 6 1.2.2.2. National incentives in the USSR 11 1.2.2.3. National incentives in the Federal Republic of Germany 13 1.2.2.4. National incentives in France 18 1.2.2.5. National incentives in Japan 19 2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GAS-COOLED REACTORS UP TO THE PRESENT 29 2.1. Introduction 29 2.2. Gas-cooled thermal reactors 33 2.2.1. Development of gas-cooled reactors in France 33 2.2.2. Development of gas-cooled reactors in the Federal Republic of Germany 35 2.2.2.1. AVR 35 2.2.2.2. Thorium high-temperature reactor (THTR-300) .... 38 2.2.2.3. Other GCR developments 41 2.2.3. Development of gas-cooled reactors in Japan 43 2.2.4. Development of gas-cooled reactors in Switzerland 44 2.2.5. Development of gas-cooled reactors in the United Kingdom... 47 2.2.5.1. Magnox reactor stations 47 2.2.5.2. Advanced gas-cooled reactors 48 2.2.5.3. High-temperature reactors 51 2.2.6. Development of gas-cooled reactors in the United States of America 51 2.2.6.1. Ultra High Temperature Reactor Experiment (UHTREX) 53 2.2.6.2. Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station - Unit 1 54 2.2.6.3. Fort St. Vrain Nuclear Generating Station 56 2.2.7. Development of gas-cooled reactors in the USSR 56 2.2.8. OECD project: The Dragon Reactor Experiment (DRE) 62 2.3. Gas-cooled fast breeder reactors (GCFR) 65 3. TECHNICAL STATUS OF THE APPLICATION OF GCRs 69 3.1. Electricity generation 69 3.1.1. Magnox stations 69 3.1.1.1. Status of the Calder Hall and Chapelcross Stations in the UK 69 3.1.1.2. Status of commercial Magnox stations 69 3.1.1.3. Modern Magnox reactor design 70 3.1.1.4. Costs of Magnox stations 72 3.1.1.5. Future application 72 3.1.1.6. Latina power station, Italy 73 3.1.1.7. Tokai Mura power station, Japan 75 3.1.1.8. Magnox reactors in France (UNGG reactors) 75 3.1.2. Advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) 78 3.1.2.1. Status of AGRs in the UK 78 3.1.2.2. AGRs in construction or operation in the UK 83 3.1.2.3. Windscale AGR 86 3.1.2.4. Costs of AGRs in the UK 87 3.1.3. High-temperature reactors 90 3.1.3.1. Introduction 90 3.1.3.2. Reactors under construction or in operation 92 3.1.3.2.1. Fort St. Vrain 92 3.1.3.2.2. AVR 97 3.1.3.2.3. Thorium high-temperature reactor (THTR-300) 98 3.1.3.3. Future reactor designs 102 3.1.3.3.1. HTGR steam-cycle design (USA) 102 3.1.3.3.2. Steam-cycle plant concepts in the Federal Republic of Germany 110 3.1.4. HTGR direct cycle (HTGR-GT) 127 3.1.4.1. Incentives for development 127 3.1.4.2. The HHT project (Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland) 127 3.1.4.3. Overall gas-turbine plant features (USA) 129 3.1.5. Gas-cooled fast breeder reactor (GCFR) 133 3.1.5.1. Introduction 133 3.1.5.2. The GCFR programme in the USA 134 3.1.5.3. The OECD-NEA GCFR programme 137 3.1.5.4. GBRA design : 138 3.1.5.5. The GCFR programme in the USSR 143 3.1.5.6. The GCFR programme in Switzerland 146 3.1.5.7. GCFR design status and prospects 147 3.2. Process steam and process heat application 149 3.2.1. Introduction 149 3.2.2. Proposed reactor concepts 153 3.2.2.1. PNP-500 plant (Federal Republic of Germany) 153 3.2.2.2. Reference to modular reactor concepts and HTR-450 (Federal Republic of Germany) 159 3.2.2.3. HTGR steam cycle/cogeneration (USA) 161 3.2.2.4. 850°C indirect-cycle HTGR-PH plant (USA) 163 3.2.2.5. 950°C direct-cycle HTGR-PH plant (USA) 164 3.2.2.6. VGR-50 reactor (USSR) 165 3.2.2.7. VG-400 reactor (USSR) 167 3.2.2.8. Very high-temperature reactor (VHTR) (Japan) .... 168 3.2.3. Process steam applications 169 3.2.3.1. Application survey in the USA 169 3.2.3.2. Application for district heating 178 3.2.3.3. Processes in organic chemistry and petrochemistry.. 180 3.2.3.4. Extraction of heavy crude oil 180 3.2.3.5. SNG production by Lurgi coal gasification 181 3.2.4. Process heat applications 182 3.2.4.1. Synthesis gas 182 3.2.4.1.1. SNG production by hydrogasification of coal « 182 3.2.4.1.2. SNG production by steam gasification of hard coal 184 3.2.4.1.3. SNG production by steam-methane reforming and the thermochemical long-distance energy transport by gases 188 3.2.4.1.4. Demonstration plant EVA II/ADAM II for long-distance heat supply 190 3.2.4.1.5. SNG production by the Exxon catalytic coal gasification process .... 191 3.2.4.2. SNG as raw material in the chemical industry 195 3.2.4.3. Hydrogen production by thermochemical splitting of water and high-temperature electrolysis 196 4. SPECIAL FEATURES OF GAS-COOLED REACTORS 4.1. Technical performance 201 4.1.1. Magnox stations 201 4.1.1.1. Magnox stations in the United Kingdom 201 4.1.1.2. Magnox-type reactors (UNGG) in France 201 4.1.1.3.