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Conference Article: EC-Funded Project (HTR-L) for the Definition of a European Safety Approach for HTR’s

S. Ehster, FRAMATOME-ANP, France, M. T. Dominguez, Empresarios Agrupados Internacional SA, I. Coe, NNC Ltd., United Kingdom, G. Brinkmann, FRAMATOME-ANP GmbH, Germany, W. von Lensa, Research Centre Jülich, Germany, W. van der Mheen, Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group, The Netherlands, C. Allessandroni, Ansaldo Nucleare, Italy and J. Pirson, Tractebel Energy Engineering, Belgium

Abstract

The inherent safety features of the HTRs make events leading to severe core damage highly unlikely and constitute the main differentiating aspects compared to LWRs. While a known and stable regulatory environment has long been established for Light Water Reactors, a different approach is necessary for the licensing of HTRbased power plants.

Among the R&D projects funded by the European Commission for HTR reactors, the HTR-L project is dedicated to the definition of a common and coherent European safety approach and the identification of the main licensing issues for the licensing framework of the Modular HTRs.

Other specific objectives of this project are :

To develop a methodology to classify the accidental conditions
To define the preliminary requirements for the confinement of radioactive products and to assess the need for a "conventional" containment structure
To establish a SSC (2) classification and to define the rules for equipment qualification
To identify the key issues that need to be addressed in the licensing process of the HTRs
To organize a workshop with the concerned Safety Authorities at the end of the project.

This paper will explain the project objectives and its final expected outcomes.

view the full text of this article (6 pages, format: PDF, size= 187kB)

key words: Gas Cooled Reactor, Nuclear Technology

Reference:: Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Petten, NL, April 22-24, 2002
Organized by HTR-TN in cooperation with the European Nucler Society (ENS) and the IAEA; International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria); HTR-2002, pp:1-6