Future prospects of the HTR

Up to now all the experience obtained with high temperature reactors has confirmed the advantages expected from this technology: a high level of safety, multiple possibilities of application, compatibility with the environment, and conservation of the natural fuel reserves. For introduction to the market a three-step concept is shown to result from the HTR symposion. According to it as a first step high temperature reactors will be used to produce electric power, process steam and heat for long-distance supply. In a second step coal gasification and hydrogenation by means of nuclear process heat is aimed at. In the third stage, lying in a more distant future, high temperature reactors are intended to contribute to a large extent to substituting oil and gas by generation of hydrogen combined with upgrading processes for coal and by implementation of the nuclear long-distance energy supply system ''ADAM and EVA''. Regarding the international state of development and the technological and economic prospect associated with this type of reactor completion and start-up of the thorium high temperature reactor is indispensable - in particular as a prerequisite for succeeding projects like the 500 MW HTR already conceived. (orig./GL)