Promising Neutron Irradiation Applications at the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor

Abstract

The high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) has advantages for irradiation applications such as large space available for irradiation at reflector region and high thermal neutron spectrum with the graphite moderator. High temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR), a prismatic type of the HTGR, has been constructed to establish and upgrade the basic technologies for the HTGRs. Many irradiation regions are reserved in the HTTR to be served as a potential tool for an irradiation test reactor in order to promote innovative basic researches such as materials, fusion reactor technology, and radiation chemistry. This study shows the overview of some possible irradiation applications at the HTTRs including neutron transmutation doping silicon (NTD-Si) and Iodine-125 (125I) productions. The HTTR has possibility to produce about 40 tons of doped Si-particles per year for fabrication of spherical silicon solar cell. Besides, the HTTR could also produce about 1.8 × 105 GBq/yr of 125I isotope, comparing to 3.0 × 103 GBq of total 125I supplied in Japan in 2016.