One of the great challenges of designing and licensing the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR)is confirming that the intended VHTR analysis tools can be used confidently to make decisions, thereby ensuring that all reactor systems are safe and compliant with the performance objectives of the Generation IV Program. The research and development (R&D) methods defined in this technical program plan will ensure that the tools used to perform the required calculations and analyses can be trusted. The R&D tasks are designed to ensure that the calculational envelope of the tools used to analyze the VHTR reactor systems encompasses or is larger than the operational and transient envelope of the VHTR itself.

This report outlines the significant nuclear energy research and development (R&D) necessary to create options that will allow government and industrial decision-makersto set policies and create nuclear energy initiatives that are decisive and sustainable.

“In this country, the infrastructure is privately owned but the government has to ensure that the nation’s long-term interests are served,” said John Grossenbacher, director of the Idaho National Laboratory. “We need to begin the discussion in those terms. We need to be pragmatic. We can’t fall into the trap of romanticizing or demonizing any energy form. We need a factual discussion. Unfortunately, it’s now extraordinarily politicized.”

A key research and development element of the NGNP is determining the irradiated and non-irradiated material properties of nuclear grade graphite used as the core structural material.

A key research and development element of the NGNP Graphite Development Program is the Advanced Graphite Capsule Experiments.

A key element of the NGNP is irradiation of new fuel being developed to support next generation reactors in the United States.