Design, Experiment, and Commissioning of the Spent Fuel Conveying and Loading System of HTR-PM

The Chinese high-temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module, HTR-PM, began fuel loading in August 2021. The reactor refuels continuously, while the spent fuel is discharged from the core. The spent fuel conveying and loading system was designed to convey the spent fuel pebbles to the spent fuel building and load them into dry canisters for on-site interim storage. This study describes the operating principles of the main functions and introduces the experiments and commissioning tests of the system. Functional tests were carried out to indicate the items of mechanical and electrical equipment are functioning in accordance with the designed requirements. Experience learned from commissioning activities was also presented as feedback for future operation and design improvement.