China and Indonesia to jointly develop HTGR

Thursday, 4 August 2016

China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) has signed an agreement with Indonesia's National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) to jointly develop a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) in Indonesia.

The signing of the agreement (Image: CNEC)

The joint project development plan was signed on 1 August by CNEC chairman Wang Shoujun and Batan chairman Djarot Sulistio Wisnubroto during the second official Meeting of Cultural and People-to-People Exchange between China and Indonesia.

Under the agreement, CNEC and Batan intend to cooperate on an Indonesian HTGR project and to train workers.

Batan is promoting the introduction of nuclear power plants in Indonesia to help meet the county's demand for power. It envisages the start-up of conventional large light-water reactors on the populous islands of Bali, Java, Madura and Sumatra from 2027 onwards. In addition, it is planning for small HTGRs (up to 100 MWe) for deployment on Kalimantan, Sulawesi and other islands to supply power and heat for industrial use.

Prior to the introduction of commercial reactors in Indonesia, Batan is considering building a test and demonstration HTGR with an electrical output of 3-10 MWe and a thermal output of 10-30 MWt.

In August 2014, Batan signed a cooperation agreement with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) on research and development of HTGRs. JAEA has developed a small prototype gas-cooled reactor, the High-Temperature Test Reactor. This is a 30 MWt graphite-moderated helium gas-cooled reactor which achieved first criticality in November 1998.

In April 2015, Rosatom announced that a consortium of Russian and Indonesian companies led by NUKEM Technologies had won a contract for the preliminary design of a multi-purpose 10 MWe HTGR at Serpong in Indonesia.

CNEC has been working with Tsinghua University since 2003 on the design, construction and commercialization of HTR technology. The partners signed a new agreement in March 2014 aimed at furthering cooperation in both international and domestic marketing of the advanced reactor technology.

A demonstration HTR-PM unit is under construction at Shidaowan near Weihai city in China's Shandong province. That plant will initially comprise twin HTR-PM reactor modules driving a single 210 MWe steam turbine. Construction started in late 2012 and commercial operation is scheduled to start in late 2017.

A proposal to construct two 600 MWe HTRs at Ruijin city in China's Jiangxi province passed a preliminary feasibility review in early 2015. The design of the Ruijin HTRs is based on the smaller Shidaowan demonstration HTR-PM. Construction of the Ruijin reactors is expected to start next year, with grid connection in 2021.

CNEC is actively promoting its HTGR technology overseas and has already signed memoranda of understanding with Dubai, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. The company said the signing of the agreement with Indonesia "marks further substantial progress in the overseas promotion of HTR technology".

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News