Rise to Power Test of the HTTR and Development of Nuclear Heat Utilization Systems

摘要

The HTTR (High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor), with a thermal output of 30 MW, is a research facility constructed by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The view of the HTTR reactor building is shown in Fig. 1. The construction of the HTTR began in March 1991 and all major components were installed by March 1996. Fuels were loaded into the core since July 1998 and the first criticality was attained on November 10, 1998. Fuels were column-wide loaded from the outer fuel column to the inner one and 19 of the total 30 fuel columns made the reactor criticality. The other inner fuel columns were filled in to give the full size core by December 1998. In the course of fuel loading, low power physics tests were conducted.