Yasuyoshi KATO Laboratory
Advanced Energy System Project
We started the Advanced Energy System Project (AESP) to develop commercially viable systems and technologies that provide electricity and heat such as hydrogen, methane, methanol for fuel cells using heat from small nuclear reactors, waste heat from power plants and solar energy under collaboration with other laboratories in our institute, that will meet the world's growing demand while greenhouse gas emissions are much reduced.
Research Scope of Kato Laboratory
1. Supercritical CO2 Gas Turbine Fast Reactors
A fast reactor (FR) applied with supercritical CO2 gas turbine cycle achieves higher cycle efficiency than conventional Na cooled FRs, eliminating the safety and economical problems. Experimental and design studies have been done under the auspice of MEXT to demonstrate technological feasibility of the plant concept. In this FR core, 237Np is burned as a burnable poison to attain zero reactivity loss for ten years.
2. New Pebble Core for HTGRs
A new pebble bed core concept is introduced whereby the flow direction is not vertical, but horizontal. Pressure drop is reduced by 4.8% compared with that in the conventional vertical flow, providing 2.3% higher thermal efficiency.
3. New Waste Heat Recovery System
An innovative waste heat recovery system from steam condensers in power plants has been proposed using liquid CO2 instead of sea water as a cooling medium. A mockup has been performed under the auspice of NEDO.
4.New Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE)
New PCHEs have been developed for the reactors and the waste heat recovery system by 3-D CFD. Their heat transfer and pressure drop performances have been tested in our supercritical CO2 cycle loops.
