Work will include cost and schedule estimates
US-based Jacobs has been chosen by the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) for a contract to review the initial designs and delivery plans for the high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) that is being developed by NNL and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).
The reactor design study is part of a wider project between NNL, JAEA and Jacobs to develop a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor for deployment in the UK in the early 2030s. The effort is part of an advanced modular reactor competition run by the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Jacobs said the study will help develop cost and schedule estimates as part of a broader investment case submission to the UK Treasury. It will include a review of market demand and end-use cases for HTGR technology and an engineering design review to ensure regulatory compliance.
Jacobs did not give a value for the contract.
In September 2022, NNL said that it was working with JAEA and Jacobs to “assess the feasibility of their joint [AMR] solution, the ‘UKJ-HTR’, that will combine JAEA’s world-leading capability on high temperature gas-cooled reactors, with more than 50 years of research and development from the UK’s national laboratory for nuclear fission, alongside Jacobs’ reactor design experience”.
An initial six reactor designs, including the NNL/JAEA design, have been chosen to move to the next stages of the government’s AMR competition.
AMRs typically use novel coolants or fuels and have higher temperature outputs than large nuclear reactor technology. They are being designed so that much of the plant can be fabricated in a factory.
