A Project Management and Systems Engineering Structure for a Generation IV Very High Temperature Reactor
The Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) will be an advanced, very high temperature (approximately 1000o C. coolant outlet temperature), gas cooled nuclear reactor and is the nearest term of six Generation IV reactor technologies for nuclear assisted hydrogen production. In 2001, the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), a ten nation international forum working together with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee (NERAC), agreed to proceed with the development of a technology roadmap and identified the next generation of nuclear reactor systems for producing new sources of power. Since a new reactor has not been licensed in the United States since the 1970s, the risks are too large for a single utility to assume in the development of an unprecedented Generation IV reactor. The government must sponsor and invest in the research to resolve major first of a kind (FOAK) issues through a full-scale demonstration prior to industry implementation. DOE’s primary mission for the VHTR is to demonstrate nuclear reactor assisted cogeneration of electricity and hydrogen while meeting the Generation IV goals for safety, sustainability, proliferation resistance and physical security and economics. The successful deployment of the VHTR as a demonstration project will aid in restarting the now atrophied U.S. nuclear power industry infrastructure. It is envisioned that VHTR project participants will include DOE Laboratories, industry partners such as designers, constructors, manufacturers, utilities, and Generation IV international countries. To effectively mange R&D, engineering, procurement, construction, and operation for this multi-organizational and technologically complex project, systems engineering will be used extensively to ensure delivery of the final product. Although the VHTR is an unprecedented FOAK system, the R&D, when assessed using the Office of Science and Technology Gate Model, falls primarily in the 3rd - Exploratory Development, 4th – Advanced Development, and 5th- Engineering Development stages of maturity rather than in the basic and viability stages. Therefore the R&D must be controlled and project driven from the top down to address specific issues of feasibility, proof of design or support of engineering. The design evolution must be through the systems approach including an iterative process of high-level requirements definition, engineering to focus R&D to verify feasibility, requirements development and conceptual design, R&D to verify design and refine detailed requirements for final detailed design. This paper will define a framework for project management and application of systems engineering at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The VHTR Project includes an overall reactor design and construction activity and four major supporting activities: fuel development and qualification, materials selection and qualification, NRC licensing and regulatory support, and the hydrogen production plant.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-99ID-13727
- OSTI ID:
- 910861
- Report Number(s):
- INEEL/CON-04-02175; TRN: US200802%%238
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICSE & INCOSE Joint 2004 Conference,Las Vegas, NV,09/15/2004,09/18/2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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