Members of the Liquid-metal-cooled Reactor Systems Technical Working Group

GIF, nor any of its members, nor any GIF member's national government agency or employee thereof, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. References herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the GIF, its members, or any agency of a GIF member's national government. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the GIF, its members, or any agency of a GIF member's national government. In this report the Generation IV Technical Working Group 3 (TWG 3) on Liquid Metal Reactors presents its R&D plan for development of selected Gen IV concepts under its purview. The concepts (in fact, sets of concepts) considered here are those that emerged as the most promising during the many months of screening and evaluation. a The activity reported on here by TWG 3 goes well beyond mere selection of a small set of reactor systems and fuel cycles, and subsequent specification of the R&D needed to bring them to fruition. If successfully executed the TWG 3 R&D plan would open up the possibility for nuclear power to make a huge contribution to global electricity supply for centuries. This of course refers to the capability of TWG 3 reactors to create more fissile material than they consume, a characteristic brought about because of the high-energy neutron spectrum of all TWG 3 systems, so-called " fast reactors ". These reactors, however, will be deployed in a world of thermal reactors, and only when this realization is taken into account can the full potential of the entire future nuclear energy system be reached. As the number of deployed fast reactors grows in the years after initial deployment, i.e., decades from now, it is conceivable that they will be operating in an environment of multiple types of thermal reactors. Regardless of the details, the fast reactors will operate in symbiosis with the thermal reactors. But the specific symbiotic arrangement, and how far the arrangement goes in meeting all of the Gen IV aspirations, is very dependent on the R&D plans that are laid today. Consider fuel recycle, …