China’s high temperature pebble bed reactor on track for operation this year

The pressure vessel head has been installed at one of the two high-temperature gas-cooled reactor units that make up the demonstration HTR-PM plant under construction at Shidaowan in China’s Shandong province.

The first of the graphite moderator spheres was loaded within the core of the first reactor in April last year. In July, the thermal hydraulic parameters of the steam generator were validated. The demonstration HTR-PM is expected to be connected to the grid and start electricity generation this year.