Aim is to deploy unit in European country The agreement was signed by NCBJ director Krzysztof Kurek (left) and JAEA president Koguchi Masanori. Courtesy NCBJ/JAEA. Japan and Poland have signed an agreement to cooperate on high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology with the aim of building a plant in the European country.

The agreement, for the development of a basic design and a preliminary safety report, was signed by the president of the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Koguchi Masanori and the director of Poland’s National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) Krzysztof Kurek.

NCBJ said HTGRs are capable of supplying heat for the chemical and petrochemical industries. They will be able to replace fossil fuel installations, leading to the decarbonisation of many production processes. They can also enable the economic production of clean hydrogen.

Several attempts have been made to build reactors of this type, but none has so far entered commercial service.

Poland has been cooperating with Japan for several years on HTGR technology. The new agreement provides for R&D on the project, which would be built in Poland at the NCBJ.

JAEA began research and development of HTGRs in 1969. The high-temperature test reactor (HTTR) to the north of Tokyo in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, is a small prototype HTGR. The plant achieved first criticality in November 1998.

‘Affordable And Reliable’ Heat Source

A 2018 report by NCBJ, which operates Poland’s only research reactor, named Maria, on the outskirts of Warsaw, advised the government that HTGR technology would offer Poland an affordable and reliable heat source for domestic industry and help reduce the country’s dependency on imported gas.

In 2019, the government said it would support the first phase of an HTGR project in Poland with $3.7m (€3.5m).

Poland expects HTGRs to help decarbonise the non-power sectors of its industry by providing heat for large industrial consumers like those in the chemicals sector.

In 2021 NCBJ signed a contract with the ministry of education paving the way for a three-year programme to help the development of HTGR technology in the country.

The contract stipulated that within three years, the NCBJ would be ready to build a HTGR research unit in Poland. NCBJ will develop the plant’s basic design.

Poland is bullish about the potential of nuclear power to help wean it off coal, reduce dependency on imported gas, bring down energy costs and increase energy security. Warsaw recently chose US-based Westinghouse for the construction of the country’s first nuclear power station.