Porvair's role in China’s small modular reactor development

Porvair Filtration Group has announced its role in the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor currently being developed at Tsinghua University in China. The British company said the technology has the potential to create affordable and reliable energy in some of the world's poorest and most remote countries.

Porvair Filtration Group has announced its role in the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) currently being developed at Tsinghua University in China. The British company said the technology has the potential to create affordable and reliable energy in some of the world's poorest and most remote countries.

The High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor being developed at Tsinghua University in China (Image: Porvair)

The reactors will be used to provide economic, environmentally-friendly power to communities which are not connected to national or international grids, but they could also be used to facilitate "power-hungry" industrial processes, such as salt water desalinisation in these isolated areas, Porvair said.

The university's Institute for Nuclear and New Energy Technology has conducted research on HTGR fuel element technology over the past 30 years. Porvair is developing self-cleaning filtration systems to manage the dust issues associated with the carbon-encased balls which are used to power the reactor.

"These miniature nuclear power plants can generate up to 500 MWe but are small enough that they can be sited where power is needed, even in remote areas where it has never before been practical or economical to build nuclear plants," Porvair said.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News