EUROPAIRS · End User Requirement fOr Process heat Applications with Innovative Reactors for Sustainable energy supply

The development of GENERATION IV nuclear systems is identified as an important objective of the present Euratom work programme. The significant support given in FP5 and FP6 allowed Europe to acquire strong assets in the technology of one of the 6 GENERATION IV reactor types, the (V)HTR. In line with these assets and with the recommendation of the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform, which points out high temperature industrial process heat applications of nuclear energy as one of 3 major axes of development recommended for European nuclear R&D, the EUROPAIRS project proposes a step forward towards industrial application of (V)HTR technology: the objective of EUROPAIRS is to identify the boundary conditions for the viability of nuclear cogeneration systems connected to conventional industrial processes and to initiate the partnership of nuclear organisations and end-user industries, which would be deployed in a further step to develop a Demonstrator coupling a (V)HTR with industrial processes (the boundary condition framework defines technical, industrial, economical, licensing and safety requirements for the nuclear system, the processes that can consume the energy generated, and the coupling system).For that purpose, 1) A strong partnership of nuclear industrial and R&D organisations with process heat user industries, which is absolutely needed, will be built, based on the joint participation of nuclear and heat end-user partners. The implementation of the project will allow a better understanding of these two communities through mutual information, as well as a sharing of the objectives and of the development programme for the demonstrator. 2) Boundary conditions for nuclear cogeneration will be defined from the points of view of technical feasibility, industrial practicability, licensing acceptability (with the input of Regulator and TSO partners), sustainability and economic competitiveness. The critical issues will be identified, solutions of viable coupling schemes will be proposed and R&D needs pointed out. 3) A roadmap for designing and constructing a demonstrator will be elaborated, including the developments needed for the reactor, the heat transport system and the process heat applications, as well as the R&D and qualification actions required in support of this programme. A schedule will be proposed as well as an estimation of the costs and a sketch of the business case for further industrial deployment.