Arrangements in Tokyo - the next stage of Japanese-Polish cooperation in the field of high-temperature reactor technology

On November 22, in Tokyo, the President of the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Mr. Koguchi Masanori and the Director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ, Poland), prof. Krzysztof Kurek signed an Implementing Arrangement regarding the institution's cooperation in research and development in the field of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors technology.

Poland has been cooperating with Japan for several years in implementing the technology of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). This type of test facility was built in Japan and is operating successfully. In the future, high-temperature reactors capable of supplying steam with a temperature of up to 1000 degrees Celsius and may become heat sources for the chemical and petrochemical industries. They will be able to replace current fossil fuel installations, leading to the decarbonisation of many production processes. They can also enable the economic production of hydrogen.

In May 2021, the Government of the Republic of Poland decided to proceed to the next stage of research and development (R&D) of the HTGR technology, and NCBJ started work on the conceptual design of the HTGR research reactor. The task is to create a basic design and a pre-prepared safety report. After establishing research cooperation in 2019, NCBJ and JAEA started negotiations to expand cooperation in the area of research and development in the field of HTGR technology. The Implementing Arrangement signed by JAEA and NCBJ in September 2019 has been supplemented today. The new arrangement provides for R&D cooperation on the project of the main HTGR research reactor, which would be built in Poland at the NCBJ. The contract concluded in parallel provides for the provision of technical information to NCBJ regarding the Japanese HTGR R&D. The documentation, which JAEA will hand over to NCBJ by 2024, will be intended for joint use in the partners' work.