SPECIAL REPORT | RESEARCH REACTORS
What’s next for the VTR project?
Plans to build a new US research reactor — the Versatile Test Reactor — were first announced in 2019, but with government funding lacking, the project is looking increasingly uncertain. Judith Perera reports
IN EARLY 2019, THE US Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans to build a Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) — a fast-neutron reactor research reactor capable of performing irradiation testing at much higher neutron energy fluxes than currently available in the USA. After initial enthusiasm for the project, support has now waned. Congress rejected proposals for funding for FY 2022, leaving the project to look elsewhere for finance based on its geopolitical and strategic importance. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy established the VTR
Judith Perera
Contributing Editor, Nuclear Engineering International
programme in 2018 in response to the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (NEICA). NEICA directs DOE to assess the mission need for and cost of a versatile reactor-based fast-neutron source with high neutron flux, irradiation flexibility, multiple experimental environment capabilities and space for many concurrent users. In February 2019, VTR cleared Critical Decision 0, demonstrating a mission need requiring investment — the first in a series of project approvals. DOE then announced the start of the VTR Project. Congress supported the VTR with $35 million in 2018 and $65 million in 2019. In November 2019, Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), which
manages Idaho National Laboratory (INL), announced an Expression of Interest seeking an industry partner to design and construct the VTR. In January 2020, a collaboration between GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and TerraPower supported by Energy Northwest was announced. In August 2020 BEA initiated contract negotiations with a team led by Bechtel National Inc to support the design and build phase.
In September 2020 the DOE announced it had approved Critical Decision 1 for the VTR project. This is the second step in the formal review process, during which federal committees reviewed the conceptual design, schedule and cost range, and analysed alternatives. DOE also issued a Notice of Intent to prepare the environmental impact statement (EIS). At that time Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
welcomed the development. “Argonne’s engineers are also contributing in many areas of the project, including reactor design, experiment design and fuel design,” said Jordi Roglans, ANL VTR deputy project manager. He said Argonne’s history of expertise in sodium-cooled fast reactor technology equips it to play a lead role in the design of the core of the VTR and the safety analysis. To minimise the project risk, researchers wanted to adapt
existing designs for the new reactor. “We wanted to start with technology that had been demonstrated to the fullest extent possible so that we could minimise the development work required for the design and construction of the VTR,” Roglans said. The conceptual design for the VTR is an adaptation of General Electric-Hitachi’s PRISM design, which was initially part of DOE’s Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor programme. The PRISM design has been adapted to the VTR by removing electricity production elements and adapting the core and primary system to facilitate the test mission. Roglans said building a reactor like the VTR was a
challenge. “The Department of Energy has not built a new test reactor in many years and establishing the supply chain
Above: The aim of the Versatile Test Reactor is to perform large-scale, fast-spectrum neutron irradiation tests Photo credit: INL 14 | January 2022 |
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