1. Generation IV International Forum Overview Dr. John E
Generation IV International Forum Overview Dr. John E. Kelly GIF Policy Group Vice Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Office of Nuclear Energy FESAC TEC Meeting May 30, 2017

2. Genesis of Generation IV Concept
In 1999, low public and political support for nuclear energy
Oil and gas prices were low
USA proposed a bold initiative in 2000
The vision was to leapfrog LWR technology and collaborate with international partners to share R&D on advanced nuclear systems
9 Countries and EU joined USA in developing the initiative
Oil prices jumped soon thereafter
Gen IV concept defined via technology goals and legal framework
Technology Roadmap released in 2002
2 year study with more than100 experts worldwide
Nearly 100 reactor designs evaluated and down selected to 6 most promising concepts
First signatures collected on Framework Agreement in 2005; first research projects defined in 2006
“This may have been the first time that the world came together to decide on a fission technology to develop together.”
~William Magwood IV, First Chairman of the Generation IV International Forum

3. Generation IV Goals Sustainability Long term fuel supply
Minimize waste and long term stewardship burden
Safety & Reliability
Very low likelihood and degree of core damage
Eliminate need for offsite emergency response
Economics
Life cycle cost advantage over other energy sources
Financial risk comparable to other energy projects
Proliferation Resistance & Physical Protection
Unattractive materials diversion pathway
Enhanced physical protection against terrorism

4. Generation IV International Forum

5. Fourteen Current Members of Generation IV
Argentina *
Japan
Australia *
Korea, Republic of
Brazil *
Russian Federation
Canada
South Africa
China
Switzerland
Euratom
United Kingdom *
France
United States
*Argentina, Australia, Brazil and the United Kingdom are non-active, i.e. they have not acceded to the Framework Agreement which establishes system and project organizational levels for further co-operation. Australia signed the GIF Charter on June 22, 2016, thus becoming the GIF’s newest and 14th member.

6. Generation IV System Development Matrix
Generation IV Systems
Canada
China
France
Japan
Korea
Russia
South Africa
Switzerland
U.S.A. EU
Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR)
Very-high Temperature Gas cooled Reactor (VHTR)
Gas-cooled Fast Reactor
(GFR)
Supercritical-water cooled Reactor
(SCWR)
Lead-cooled Fast Reactor
(LFR)
Molten Salt Reactor
(MSR)
Participating member, signatory of a System Arrangement as of February 2017

7. Generation IV Organization
Policy Group
Senior Industry Advisory Panel
Chair
Francois Gauche (France)
Vice Chairs
John E. Kelly (USA)
Hideki Kamide (Japan)
Hark Rho Kim (Korea)
Chair
Haeryong Hwang (Korea)
Experts Group
Chair
Alexander Stanculescu (USA)
Policy Secretariat
Policy Director
François Storrer (France)
Technical Director
Alexander Stanculescu (USA)
System Steering Committees
Methodology Working Groups
Proliferation Resistance & Physical Protection
Risk & Safety
Economic Modelling
Co-Chairs
Henri Paillère (NEA)
Technical Secretariat
Project Management Boards
(Multiple R&D projects)
Chairs as of February 2017

8. System Steering Committees
Senior Industry Advisory Panel
System Steering Committees
Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor
Very High Temperature Reactor
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor
Supercritical-Water Cooled Reactor
Lead Fast Reactor
Molten Salt Reactor
Chair
Hiroki Hayafune (Japan)
Co-Chairs
Jean Michel Ruggieri (France)
Robert Hill (USA)
Chair
Yanping Huang (China)
Co-Chair
Laurence Leung (Canada)
Chair
Alessandro Alemberti (Euratom)
Chair
Jerome Serp (France)
Chair
Branislav Hatala (Euratom)
Co-Chair
Hans Gougar (USA)
Michael Fuetterer (Euratom)
Chairs as of February 2017

9. Technology Roadmap Update
Roadmap first published 2002
Decadal update just completed 2013
viability
performance
demonstration
2002
2013
VHTR
SFR
SCWR
MSR
LFR
GFR
2000
2020
2010
2030

10. Sodium Fast Reactor Major features Fast neutron spectrum
Low pressure liquid metal coolant
Flexible fuel cycle applications
SFR design activities
ASTRID (France)
JSFR (Japan)
PGSFR (Korea)
BN-1200 (Russia)
ESFR (European Union)
AFR-100 (United States)
CFR-1200 (China)
BN-1200 is under development (Russia)
PG-SFR Korean pool-type reactor with a steam Rankine cycle
Partners Joining Date
MOST (China) March 2006
JRC (Euratom) November 2006
CEA (France) February 2006
JAEA (Japan) February 2006
MEST (Korea) April 2006
ROSATOM (Russian Federation) July 2010
DOE (USA) February 2006

11. SFR System Status
More than 400 reactor years operating experience since 1951
EBR-II, FFTF, Phenix, Superphenix, BOR-60, BN-600, and JOYO
BN-800 (Russia) and CEFR (China) started operating in the last decade
GIF SFR Projects
Systems integration and assessment
Safety and operation
Advanced fuel
Component design and balance of plant
Global actinide cycle international demonstration project
GIF SFR notable accomplishments
Developing, validating and applying safety codes
Irradiation and examination of minor actinide fuel samples
Under sodium viewing, remote welding, inspection sensors
Preliminary irradiations for actinide recycle demonstration

12. Very High Temperature Reactor
Major features
Inert helium coolant
Unique TRISO fuel
Thermal neutron spectrum
Exceptional safety
Very high temperature operation
Non-electric applications
VHTR Design Activities
HTR-PM demonstration plant under construction (China)
Next Generation Nuclear Plant (United States)
Naturally Safe High Temperature Reactor (Japan)
Clean Burn High Temperature Reactor (Japan)
Multi-purpose HTGR (Japan and Kazakhstan)
PBMR (South Africa)
Updated Road Map may include the actual date…
GIF collaborations have resulted in improved common understanding of value of VHTR from perspective of safety and use of process heat even at temperatures below 1000 C.
Highly successful collaborations on VHTR – involving China, Japan, US, Euratom, Korea, France, Canada, and Switzerland
Irradiation testing in US, Switzerland, EU
Mechanical testing by all
Development of design codes and standards
Key points:
Strong materials collaboration and collection of worldwide data via GIF handbook

13. ~ Courtesy Tsinghua University
VHTR System Status
Operating experience gained since 1963
AVR and THTR (Germany)
Peach Bottom and Fort St. Vrain (United States)
HTTR (Japan)
HT10 (China)
GIF VHTR Projects
Fuel and fuel cycle
Hydrogen production
Materials
Computation, modeling, validation and benchmarking
GIF VHTR notable accomplishments
Fuel irradiation and examination
More than 300 reports uploaded into the Materials Handbook
Hydrogen production testing
First Concrete poured for China’s HTR-PM
~ Courtesy Tsinghua University

14. Gen IV Materials Handbook
Gen IV Handbook is digital, web-based database system developed to collect and manage all GIF VHTR materials data (>$150M)
Includes graphite, metals, and ceramics & composites data
Mandatory usage required by VHTR Materials Project Arrangement
Includes technical reports, test data, materials pedigree, microstructures, data analysis and comparison tools, etc.
Very strong access control for individuals, organizations, and data
Funded by DOE-NE as part of GIF contribution & managed at ORNL
Separate volumes funded for additional DOE and other programs
ASME has signed contract with ORNL to develop separate volume
Will contain entire ASME materials data base when complete
ASME to bear incremental costs

15. Lead-cooled Fast Reactor
Major features
Liquid metal coolant that is not reactive with air or water
Lead or lead-bismuth eutectic options
Fast neutron spectrum
LFR design activities
BREST (Russia)
SVBR-100 (Russia)
Lead-bismuth
ALFRED (European Union)
ELFR (European Union)
SSTAR (United States)
MYRRHA (European Union)
Accelerator driven system
Technologies been used in some Russian submarines.
Lead- and Lead-bismuth cooled experimental reactors planned for 2020 – 2030: ALFRED in Europe, BREST-300 in Russia, and Pb-Bi-cooled SVBR in Russia
The Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) features a fast neutron spectrum, high temperature operation, and cooling by molten lead or lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE), low-pressure, chemically inert liquids with very good thermodynamic properties. It would have multiple applications including production of electricity, hydrogen and process heat. System concepts represented in plans of the Generation-IV International Forum (GIF) System Research Plan (SRP) are based on Europe’s ELFR lead-cooled system, Russia’s BREST-OD-300 and the SSTAR system concept designed in the US.
The LFR has excellent materials management capabilities since it operates in the fast-neutron spectrum and uses a closed fuel cycle for efficient conversion of fertile uranium. It can also be used as a burner to consume actinides from spent LWR fuel and as a burner/breeder with thorium matrices. An important feature of the LFR is the enhanced safety that results from the choice of molten lead as a chemically inert and low-pressure coolant. In terms of sustainability, lead is abundant and hence available, even in case of deployment of a large number of reactors. More importantly, as with other fast systems, fuel sustainability is greatly enhanced by the conversion capabilities of the LFR fuel cycle. Because they incorporate a liquid coolant with a very high margin to boiling and benign interaction with air or water, LFR concepts offer substantial potential in terms of safety, design simplification, proliferation resistance and the resulting economic performance. An important factor is the potential for benign end state to severe accidents.
The LFR has development needs in the areas of fuels, materials performance, and corrosion control. During the next 5 years progress is expected on materials, system design, and operating parameters. Significant test and demonstration activities are underway and planned during this time frame.
480º - 800º C

16. LFR System Status Operating experience
80 reactor years of Russian submarine LBE reactor operation (15 units)
GIF LFR Projects
GIF has no formal system arrangement for LFR
Cooperation conducted under an MOU
GIF LFR notable accomplishments
Developed an international LFR community
Developed a provisional system research plan
Materials corrosion tests ongoing with lead loops in several laboratories

17. Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor
Major features
Fast neutron spectrum
Inert helium coolant
Very high temperature operation
Fuel cycle and non-electric applications
Significant development challenges for fuel, safety and components
GFR design activities
Allegro (European Union)
Quite a bit of accomplishment under GIF
Future GFR collaborations to focus on design of ALLEGRO, fuel development and qualification, and robust severe accident strategy formulation.
850º C

18. GFR System Status No operating experience for this challenging concept
GFR reference design
No operating experience for this challenging concept
Development relies on VHTR technology
GIF GFR projects
Conceptual Design and Safety
Fuel and core materials
GIF GFR notable accomplishments
Promising fuel concept based on a multi-barrier cylinder
Safety system design

19. Supercritical Water - Cooled Reactor
Major features
Merges LWR or PHWR technology with advanced supercritical water technology used in coal plants
Operates above the thermodynamic critical point (374º C, 22.1 MPa) of water
Fast and thermal spectrum options
SCWR Design Activities
First design effort 1957
Pre-conceptual design of SC PHWR (Canada)
Pre-conceptual SC LWR design activities (Japan and European Union)
Technology development is ongoing with a focus on the GIF objectives of improved safety, proliferation resistance, and economics and sustainability.
(new project is being negotiated between Canada and Europe for in-pile test of small scale fuel assembly characterizing core design features of SCWR)
So far, the SCWR R&D program has followed the GIF Systems Research Plan defined in Today, we have several design concepts that could serve as a basis for a prototype design, and a few more might follow. The thermal-hydraulics of the SCWR are also well understood in principle, and potential material candidates have been identified. Next step toward a prototype would involve small scale component tests to validate T-H models, and also larger integral tests to validate innovative safety systems. A future milestone envisioned in the next 10 years would be in pile tests of a fuel assembly under supercritical water conditions.

20. SCWR System Status Operating experience No SCWR has been constructed
Vast operating experience in supercritical coal plants
GIF SCWR projects
Thermal hydraulics and safety
Materials and chemistry
Fuel qualification test
System integration and analysis
GIF SCWR notable accomplishments
Experiments on heat transfer with supercritical water and other fluids
Corrosion testing for different steel alloys
Fuel qualification testing planned

21. Molten Salt Reactor Major features Molten salt eutectic coolant
High temperature operation
Thermal or fast spectrum
Molten or solid fuel
On-line waste Management
Design Activities
2-MWt FHR test reactor (China)
Pre-conceptual designs to guide R&D planning
Molten Salt Actinide Recycler and Transmuter (MOSART)
Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR)
The MSR is distinguished by its core in which the fuel is dissolved in molten fluoride salt.
The technology was first studied more than 50 years ago. Modern interest is on fast reactor concepts as a long term alternative to solid-fuelled fast neutrons reactors. The onsite fuel reprocessing unit using pyrochemistry allows breeding plutonium or uranium-233 from thorium. R&D progresses toward resolving feasibility issues and assessing safety and performance of the design concepts.
Key feasibility issues focus on a dedicated safety approach and the development of salt redox potential measurement and control tools in order to limit corrosion rate of structural materials. Further work on the batch-wise online salt processing is required. Much work is needed on molten salt technology and related equipment.
The members of this provisional SSC are France and Europe. US and Russia are observers. The common objectives of the SSC is to develop the conceptual design for the MSFR, resulting from the physical, chemical, and material studies – for the reactor core, the reprocessing unit and waste conditioning. Russia, an observer, works on the Molten Salt Actinide Recycler and Transmuter system. The US, which also supports as an observer is focused on fluoride salt cooled high temperature reactor as a nearer term class of reactor whose technology developments support MSRs.

22. MSR System Status Operating experience
Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE)
Aircraft Reactor Experiment (ARE)
GIF MSR Projects
No formal system arrangement
Cooperation proceeding under an MOU
GIF MSR notable accomplishments
The participants conducted benchmark analyses on neutronics, mutiphysics, and safety
Studies are ongoing to measure the thermo physical properties of candidate salts
Identification of key research needed for viability assessment

23. Methodology Working Groups
Developing methodologies for measuring progress against the GIF
goals
Three working groups reporting to the Technical Director
Risk and Safety (ISAM-Integrated Safety Assessment Methodology)
Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection
Economics Modeling (Generation IV Cost Estimating Guidelines)
The efforts are relatively mature with notable accomplishments
Methodology incorporated into framework for evaluation
Trial applications
User training
G4-ECONS cost estimating software available for general use
Starting to develop safety design criteria

24. SFR Safety Design Criteria Task Force
Task Force created to develop safety design criteria and guidelines
Sodium fast reactor was selected as the most mature system
Effort is being extended to other systems
Phase 1 produced a draft report containing the proposed criteria
“Safety Design Criteria for Generation IV Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor System”
Several workshops organized with technical experts, regulators, and design organizations to assess the criteria
Phase 2 is developing detailed guidelines for the SDC
Regulatory engagement
On-going engagement with international regulator organizations through the NEA ad hoc Group on the Safety of Advanced Reactors (GSAR)

25. Education and Training Task Force
Formed to develop education and training materials related to Generation IV systems
Created a webinar series (monthly) to provide presentations for the general public on the Gen IV systems and cross- cutting topics
Connecting with other nuclear education organizations to share information on educational opportunities and Summer Schools

26. Over 20 Advanced Fission Reactor Designs in the United States
Sodium Fast Reactor
TerraPower, General Electric, etc
High Temperature Gas Reactor
X-Energy, AREVA, TerraPower, Hybrid Energy, Ultra Safe, etc
Molten Salt Reactor
TerraPower, Transatomic, Terrestrial, Elysium, FLIBE Energy, etc
Lead Fast Reactor
Westinghouse, Gen IV Energy, Lake-Chime, etc
Gas Fast Reactor
General Atomics

27. Future of Generation IV
Over the last decade Gen IV has had major accomplishments
Legal framework established for collaboration
Collaborative projects started with significant R&D investment worldwide
Prototype demonstrations are being designed and/or built
SFR (France and Russia)
VHTR (China)
Much still needs to be done before Gen IV systems are a reality
Continue R&D on Gen IV systems
Develop advanced research facilities
Engage industry on the design of Gen IV systems
Engage regulators to establishing regulatory framework
Develop the workforce for the future