Investigations of HTGR Reactor Building Response to Break in Primary Coolant Boundary

英国政府表示，其意图是保持核能作为英国电力生产的重要贡献者。这是因为它提供了一种成本相对较低、稳定且基本上无排放的电力来源。它是对太阳能和风能等“可再生能源”的补充。可再生能源只能断断续续地运行(在刮风的日子里，或者在阳光明媚的时候，例如，在英国，一个典型的太阳能装置实际上一年只产生大约十分之一的电力)。直到最近，可再生能源还提供了该国近30%的电力，但这些发电厂现在已经到了寿命的尽头(通常是40年或更长时间)，需要更换它们。当然，50年后，用更现代的设计取代它们是合适的。这个项目是为了帮助设计一些下一代核电站。英国现有的核电站主要是气冷式的，这个项目是为了帮助开发下一代高温气冷式反应堆。这个特别的项目是开发实验设备和计算方法，以了解工厂在极不可能的情况下的行为，即工厂的部分气体回路发生泄漏。这些新设计的特点之一是它们对此非常容忍，而且它们的设计基本上不会受到此类泄漏后的任何不利后果的影响。这个项目是为了帮助证实和证明这一事实。这是一个与美国合作的项目，条件基本相同。它将涉及建立一个大型实验设施，以模拟广泛的这种类型的植物的行为。将进行测量，以确定工厂对泄漏的反应。与此同时，将开发计算方法，以便对具体的实际反应堆设计进行更详细的评估。这些计算工具将帮助优化设计，并作为许可过程的一部分对工厂进行评估。

The United Kingdom government has stated that its intention is to maintain nuclear energy as a significant contributor to electricity production in United Kingdom. This is because it provides a relatively low cost, stable, and essentially emissions free source of electricity. It is complementary to "renewables" such as solar and wind. Renewables operate only intermittently (on windy days, or when the sun shines, and for example, in the UK a typical solar installation will actually generate electricity for only about 1/10 of the year.)Until recently 'nuclear' provided approaching 30% of the country's electricity, but these plants are now reaching the end of their lives (after typically 40 or more years), and there is a need to replace them. Naturally, 50 years on, it is appropriate to replace them with more modern designs. This project is to help design some of this next generation of nuclear power stations. Britain's existing fleet of nuclear stations is largely gas cooled, and this project is to help develop the next generation of high-temperature gas cooled reactors. The particular project is to develop both experimental facilities and computational methods to understand the behaviour of the plants under the very unlikely circumstances that part of the gas circuit of the plant were to spring a leak. One of the characteristics making these new designs "advanced" is that they are extremely tolerant of this, and they will be designed such that they are essentially immune from any adverse consequences following such a leak. This project is to help to confirm and demonstrate that fact. It is a collaborative project with United States, where essentially identical conditions apply. It will involve building a large-scale experimental facility to simulate the behaviour of a wide range of plants of this type. Measurements will be made, to determine the response of the plant to the leak. In parallel with this, computational methods will be developed to enable more detailed assessments to be made of specific actual reactor designs. These computational tools will assist with both design optimisation, and with the assessments of the plants as part of the licensing process.