THE ÚJV GROUP
The activities of the ÚJV Group are synergically focused on research and specialised services for the energy sector, industry, and nuclear medicine in the Czech Republic and abroad. Each company in the Group has an extensive and often unique technological infrastructure, and the companies are involved in many professional platforms, both on the national and international level. The ÚJV Group is comprised of the parent company: ÚJV Řež and three wholly owned subsidiary companies (Centrum výzkumu Řež, ŠKODA Praha, and Výzkumný a zkušební ústav Plzeň). The ÚJV Group is a member of the ČEZ Group.
DEVELOPMENT OF CZECH SMRs
Centrum výzkumu Řež: the Energy Well project
CVŘ presented the Energy Well concept in 2018. It is a design of a small high-temperature modular reactor with a lower capacity, of around 20 MWt, cooled by liquid salts. The coolant will be a mixture of molten lithium and beryllium fluorides (known as Flibe).
The electricity and heat generated by the reactor can be used, for example, for water purification, for ensuring the supply of energy for closed communities, as back-up systems of other energy sources, or for an emissions-free generation of hydrogen. The units can be linked into larger chain units.
At the end of January 2020, the project team obtained a patent from the Industrial Property Authority and commenced the preparation of a non-nuclear experimental reactor unit (known as Mock-up) which will be used for design verification and for testing basic physical properties – material compatibility, thermo-hydraulics, and others.
Project | Energy Well - small modular nuclear reactor
ÚJV Řež: The HeFASTo Project
The HeFASTo project (a fast reactor cooled by helium) was presented by ÚJV Řež in 2021. It is a 4th generation advanced modular reactor. The high-temperature reactor cooled by helium, which will generate its own fissile material in the fuel, is the first concept of its kind in Europe. The output temperature from the active zone will reach 900°C. The total heat capacity of the facility will be 200 MWt. It will generate minimal nuclear waste, thanks to using a closed fuel cycle.
The HeFASTo design is based, above all, on maximum modularity. The vast majority of the components will be manufactured at a plant in the form of standardised parts. On site, the modules will only be assembled into the desired formation, which will significantly reduce the investment costs.
The high level of security of the proposed reactor is supported by a range of innovative passive-security systems that operate solely on the basis of physical phenomena, such as gravity or pressure differential. A major financial benefit of fast reactors is “fuel multiplication”, as during its operation a reactor generates more fissile material from nuclear reactions than it itself can use.
HeFASTo – a fast gas-cooled modular reactor project – ÚJV Řež, a. s. (ujv.cz)
Both projects mentioned above involve a conceptual design of 4th generation reactors whose primary objective is to document the abilities of the ÚJV Group in the sphere of research and development. Furthermore, the projects serve to demonstrate that the technologies used in 4th-generation reactors (salt as the heat-transfer medium, gas as the heat-transfer medium, etc.) can have practical application in the future.