MHI will oversee both the conceptual design as well as research and development for a sodium-cooled fast reactor in partnership with Mitsubishi FBR Systems (MFBR), an MHI Group engineering company established in 2007 to handle the development and design of fast reactors. The design work for the new reactor is scheduled to begin in fiscal 2024.
The government adopted a “strategic roadmap” for fast reactor development in December 2018, which sought to assess the efficacy of various types of fast reactors to be developed following a technological competition among private-sector corporations. The roadmap was revised in December 2022, at which time two decisions were taken:
- to select a sodium-cooled fast reactor as the target of the conceptual design which would get underway in fiscal 2024; and
- to select a manufacturer as the core company in charge of the design and R&D which would proceed with technology development in accordance with the goals and policy directions established by the government.
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Currently Japan’s basic policy of promoting the nuclear fuel cycle is based on reducing the volume and hazard level of highly radioactive waste, effective use of energy resources, and energy self-reliance. MHI said that, going forward, together with MFBR, it “will apply its technologies and experience as it begins the demonstration reactor’s conceptual design and its requisite R&D, for the realisation of a fast reactor.”
The article does not discuss the rationale for building the reactor plant’s foundations from Lego.