System concept for future FBR plants

The experimental FBR 'Joyo' continues the smooth operation, the construction of the prototype FBR 'Monju' is advanced actively, and the planning of a demonstration FBR comes up as the concrete schedule in Japan, and foreign countries expect that Japan plays the leading role in the development of FBRs. In this paper, on the basis of the trend in foreign countries toward the practical use of FBRs, the results of the research on large FBR design being carried out by the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. and the technical tendency which becomes the key to the practical use of FBRs are studied. The classifications of FBR cores and fuels, the structures of FBRs and the combination of machinery and equipment, the heat transport system, the decay heat removing system and the fuel handling system are discussed. As to the system concept for FBR plants, the plant performance such as the scale of power output, temperature condition and breeding property, the design of core fuel such as target burnup, the image of cores and fuel design, the structures of FBRs, the heat transport system, the decay heat removing system, the fuel handling system and so on are considered. Guideline for the design of high temperature structures for the Class 1 machinery and equipment of the prototype FBR was decided. (Kako, I.)