NCBJ experts in Minister of Energy’s Advisory Committee

The Energy Minister has established an advisory committee to analyse and prepare conditions for the implementation of high-temperature nuclear reactors (HTR). The first committee meeting was held on the 20^th of July and involved an official nomination for committee experts.

The establishment of the Committee marks the beginning of works on the first so significant reactor technologies research programme since the Polish political transformation, placing Poland among countries implementing most advanced nuclear technologies. – Since nuclear power requires strategic planning, in parallel to the implementation of the Polish Nuclear Power Programme we decided to initiate intense works to estimate the potential for new nuclear technologies in Poland – says Józef Sobolewski, Director of the Ministry of Energy Nuclear Energy Department. Committee members possess valuable experience in their field gained in organisations such as the National Centre for Nuclear Research, Energoprojekt-Warszawa S.A. or Prochem S.A. They are expected to produce a roadmap for the most efficient use of national scientific and business potential in this enterprise as well as an analysis of the market potential of the implementation of this technology, its production and distribution.

The Energy Ministry has decided to launch the process of the assessment of HTR potential in view of the possibilities offered by this technology, especially its industrial cogeneration applications. HTR operates within temperatures of the range of 500-1000°C, which enables its utilisation as a source of industrial heat. This will enable significant limitation of natural gas imports, which is currently used as heat source within the chemical industry.

- We would like Poland to build its competitive advantage based on advanced export technologies rather than cheap labour. HTR could become a significant leap ahead within the fuel and energy market – underlined Sobolewski. Interest in the Polish undertaking was expressed by British and French governmental agencies. Talks were also held with the British  Department of Energy and Climate Change and the US Energy Department. The head of the Committee, prof. Grzegorz Wrochna from the National Centre for Nuclear Research underlines that a number of prototype helium-cooled high temperature research reactors have already been constructed worldwide. -  The Polish project is aimed at the implementation of HTRs as industrial source of heat. However, we would like to undertake parallel research on even more state-of-the-art solutions. This is what an efficient cooperation between science and business should look like: large investments in proven technologies should underpin pilot implementation of new technologies and research on technologies of the future – he explained.

***

High-temperature nuclear reactors are classified as Generation IV reactors and are currently developed in the US, France, Japan, China or South Korea. As opposed to the light-water reactors commonly used for the purpose of power generation, their main advantage is the possibility to generate heat of the range of 500-1000°C, which means they can be used as an efficient source of heat necessary inter alia for chemical reactions (e.g. production of hydrogen, gasification of coal and many others). HTRs are also highly safe and can operate in the direct neighbourhood of the plant, which minimizes the transmission losses.

After the official version published by Ministry of Energy.