Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) FY05 Annual Report

The gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) was chosen as one of the Generation IV nuclear reactor systems to be developed based on its excellent potential for sustainability through reduction of the volume and radio toxicity of both its own fuel and other spent nuclear fuel, and for extending/utilizing uranium resources orders of magnitude beyond what the current open fuel cycle can realize. In addition, energy conversion at high thermal efficiency is possible with the current designs being considered, thus increasing the economic benefit of the GFR. However, research and development challenges include the ability to use passive decay heat removal systems during accident conditions, survivability of fuels and in-core materials under extreme temperatures and radiation, and economical and efficient fuel cycle processes. Nevertheless, the GFR was chosen as one of only six Generation IV systems to be pursued based on its ability to meet the Generation IV goals in sustainability, economics, safety and reliability, proliferation resistance and physical protection. Current research and development on the Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) has focused on the design of safety systems that will remove the decay heat during accident conditions, ion irradiations of candidate ceramic materials, joining studies of oxide dispersion strengthened alloys; and within the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) the fabrication of carbide fuels and ceramic fuel matrix materials, development of non-halide precursor low density and high density ceramic coatings, and neutron irradiation of candidate ceramic fuel matrix and metallic materials. The vast majority of this work has focused on the reference design for the GFR: a helium-cooled, direct power conversion system that will operate with on outlet temperature of 850 C at 7 MPa. In addition to the work being performed in the United States, seven international partners under the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) have identified their interest in participating in research related to the development of the GFR. These are Euratom (European Commission), France, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Of these, Euratom (including the United Kingdom and Switzerland), France, and Japan have active research activities with respect to the GFR. The research includes GFR design and safety, and fuels/in-core materials/fuel cycle projects. This report outlines the current design status of the GFR, and includes work done in the areas mentioned above for this fiscal year. In addition, this report fulfills the Level 2 milestones, ''Complete annual status report on GFR reactor design'', and ''Complete annual status report on pre-conceptual GFR reactor designs'' in work package GI0401K01. GFR funding for FY05 included FY04 carryover funds, and was comprised of multiple tasks. These tasks involved a consortium of national laboratories and universities, including the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Auburn University (AU), Idaho State University (ISU), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M). The total funding for FY05 was $1000K, with FY04 carryover of $174K. The cost breakdown can be seen in Table 1