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ChinaScience

China revives abandoned HTGR nuclear technology in safe power drive

  • When China’s high-temperature gas-cooled reactor connects to the grid, it will be the only one in the world in commercial operation
  • The method is regarded as the safest way to deliver nuclear-generated electricity, but previous versions in the US and Germany shut down last century

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China’s Shidaowan nuclear power station in Shandong province is close to switching on the country’s first high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. Photo: Weibo
Echo Xie

China’s first high-temperature gas-cooled reactor will be the world’s only one in commercial operation when it is connected to the country’s power grid this month.

It remains to be seen how the facility – at the Shidaowan nuclear power plant in the eastern province of Shandong – performs, but similar projects in the US closed down decades ago.

When the owners of the Fort St Vrain nuclear generation station in Colorado shut down the United States’ second high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) in 1988, The New York Times reported that the “safest reactor is closing because it rarely runs”.

The Colorado reactor was abandoned after 10 years of commercial operation because of numerous shutdowns and poor performance. It reached only about 14 per cent of its full generation capacity of 330 megawatts, compared to the US national average of about 60 per cent at that time.

HTGRs were once seen as the safest type of nuclear-based electricity generation, with features capable of avoiding fuel meltdowns and large radioactive releases.

However, the four commercial HTGRs – built in Germany and the US from the 1960s to the 1980s – all experienced problems before they were permanently shut down.

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